Monica Potter plays strict mother Kristina Braverman on NBC’s Parenthood. The character Kristina, who is single-handedly trying to take care of the entire extended family, is often seem as uptight.  In fact, up until the most recent season, even Potter was not a fan.

“Kristina actually bugged me the first couple of seasons,” Potter told TVLine, “I would think, ‘You need to freaking let loose!’ But now I have grown to love her… This year, I really was pulling for her and just wanting her to be OK.”

In season 4, Kristina was diagnosed with breast cancer, an unexpected shock.  This medical dilemma caused Kristina to reevaluate her whole outlook.  For the first time in years, Kristina had to take care of herself instead of everyone else.

Potter believes that in the next season, Kristina will be less uptight and more easygoing.

Potter told Huffington Post, “She’s always been sort of the cautious one, the meddler, the this and the that and it always came from a place of wanting to protect people,” she said. “I also feel like going through this she’s going to become a lot looser next year and, like [creator] Jason [Katims] said, she won’t sweat the small things as much. I think for me as a person I’ll be able to relate to that a lot too.”

Season 5 of Parenthood will premiere on Thursday, September 26 at 10 p.m. on NBC.