Ashley Williams Celebrates Her Mom and the 'Truly Joyous' Walk to End Alzheimer’s with Her New Hallmark Movie (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Ashley Williams in Falling Together.Photo:Bettina Strauss/Hallmark Media

Bettina Strauss/Hallmark Media

Ashley Williams’s new Hallmark movie,Falling Together, didn’t start as an homage toher mother, Linda, who died from dementiain 2016; it began with a failed apartment building-wide chili party she threw years ago.

“We moved to New York so that I could doThe Jim Gaffigan Show, and we bought this apartment on the Upper West Side, where I’d always wanted to live. I thought it’d be all these creative times who have families who are on Broadway,” she recalls. “But there was this strange energy even in the elevator. I just kept saying to my husband [Neal Dodson, who is an executive producer on the film alongside Williams], ‘Once these people get to know us, they’re just going to love us.’ Finally, I decided I’m going to throw a big chili party. I put signs all over the building, in the elevators, everywhere.”

But only one neighbor showed up all night, she says, “so I got to thinking, ‘What if the one person that came was the handsome super in the building, but it turned out he was just coming to fix a broken pipe?’”

The story’s next challenge was figuring out how to bring the disparate tenants in the building together, and Williams, 45, landed on a fundraiser near and dear to her heart: TheWalk to End Alzheimer’s.

Ashley Williams and Paul Campbell in Falling Together.Bettina Strauss/Hallmark Media

As soon as the story was green-lit, Williams began working with theAlzheimer’s Associationto help make sure the language around the disease was appropriate and to “make sure that we were representing the experience of someone living with it,” she says. “That was really critical.”

Williams was also determined to show the joy that comes with the Walk and the community it creates. She ensured that the symbolic pinwheels were incorporated into the story and that it was still filled with humor, romance and fun.

“My first Walk to End Alzheimer’s must have been eight or nine years ago in New York,” she recalls. “The first time I went, I was just so struck with how much fun people were having despite the darkness of the disease. It’s truly a joyous occasion. It’s kind of this moment when you look Alzheimer’s in the face and say, ‘You’re not going to take our joy.'”

Ashley Williams, Linda Barbara Williams and Kimberly Williams-Paisley.Ashley Williams/Instagram

Ashley Williams/Instagram

Falling Together, which costarsPaul Campbell, also features a strong theme around self-care and taking time to slow down.

“I feel like I’ve played characters several times who have been trying to slow down and appreciate the little things in life. But it has more emotional resonance when you’re in a conversation surrounding a life-threatening disease,” Williams admits. “I think that’s why I was even more passionate about it thematically than usual because Alzheimer’s took many joyful years from my family. … I wish I had more time with my mom where we were walking through Costco and giggling, not the hustle culture, not the throwing the big event, not the achievements, the pressure that we all face as women to raise a family and have an amazing, successful career. It’s the little things. It’s delighting in the color of a leaf. I can’t be reminded of that enough personally, especially when I think about the lives and the years that this disease takes.

Ashley Williams and Neal Dodson.Presley Ann/Getty

Presley Ann/Getty

In her own life, that means making a concerted effort to appreciate the little things — like making quality time with her two sons, Gus, 9, and Odie, 7.

“One thing I try to do is just 20 minutes a day where it’s all about each of them,” she says. I’m just looking in his eyes and focusing on what he’s doing.”

Ashley Williams at Christmas Con 2023.Presley Ann/Shutterstock

Presley Ann/Shutterstock

Next up, Williams hosts Hallmark+’s upcoming scripted series,Small Town Setup, which will be premiering next year.

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Falling Togetherpremieres on Hallmark Channel at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Saturday, Sept. 21, which also happens to be World Alzheimer’s Day.

source: people.com