Born into country music royalty as the daughter of George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Georgette Jones had a front row seat to life with the president and first lady of country music. She chronicles it all in her 2013 book The Three of Us: Growing Up With Tammy and George, a loving look at her parents as only she knew them. Now, George and Tammy's love story is at the center of the new Showtime limited series George & Tammy, which traces the country couple's romance from its whirlwind beginnings (including a fateful dinner at the home of Wynette and her second husband Don Chapel, during which George Jones famously flipped a dining room table in response to Don insulting Tammy) to their enduring friendship that lasted until Wynette's death in 1998.
Videos by Wide Open Country
For Georgette, seeing her parents love story unfold through the onscreen portrayals of Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Good Nurse) and Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water, Knives Out ), was both surreal and rewarding.
"It was a little bit surreal at times, but it was really a wonderful process for me to go through. I've really enjoyed watching their story unfold as somebody who's watching it would watch it -- not just being their daughter," Jones tells Wide Open Country. "All the nerves and worry about what it was going to be like when it finally got finished were very much so relieved. I'm overjoyed with what we ended up with. I think they did a fantastic job."
Dana Hawley/ Paramount
The six-part limited series, created by Abe Sylvia, avoids the salacious tabloid fodder of George & Tammy's marriage. Instead it focuses on Georgette's superstar parents as human beings who each battled addiction and heartaches in the spotlight. Georgette says Shannon and Chastain's dedication to researching her parents showed the actors' respect for both the project and its subjects.
"Jessica [Chastain] was really on board probably even a year before I came on board, and it's been a decade for me," Jones says. "On one of our Zoom calls, she participated for a couple of hours asking questions and trying to get information -- how did mom feel when this happened or what happened in this situation. It made me feel really happy that she was going through that much trouble and effort to understand completely what was happening at the moment because it's so important. I really feel like after watching all of the the episodes that they both did such an incredible job -- being able to show those kind of emotions that I know they must have felt in those times."
Dana Hawley/ Showtime
George & Tammy premieres on Showtime and Paramount on Dec. 4 at 9 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. CT.
