She’s even hoping to make a documentary about the problem of
this D.C.-area high school that also explores the national problem
of public high schools where kids do not have the advantages
that different, yet nearby, public schools enjoy. “Right now, a
documentary is being shopped because there is interest.”
Meanwhile, back on the ground level, she’s promised any student
at the school that if they are interested in attending football camp
in the spring of 2019, she will personally pay for them to go.
Perhaps it’s this “get-it-done” attitude that led her to so much
success in Hollywood. It’s certainly made a huge difference in just a
few months at her old stomping grounds. “What I love most about
Hilarie is her authenticity,” Park View Principal Kirk Dolson enthuses.
“Knowing where she’s been and the huge amount of success she’s
experienced since she graduated from Park View, one might think
it would take time for her to warm up to our current school. But no
way! From the moment she walked in the door, she immediately
connected with students, staff, and our administrative team. I feel
like Park View gained a great friend through this reconnection.”
Reconnecting with her roots in Northern Virginia also meant
introducing her son Gus to her favorite place to have a meal when
she’s back home. “Without fail, I have gone to Buffalo Wing Factory
in Ashburn every single time I’ve ever come home,” Burton chuckles.
Because that’s where all my friends and I worked in high school.
It’s where my friends still work, except now they’re owners and
managers and in charge. I love that my son loves going over there to
play with the arcade games. When I got my first big job at MTV [as
a host of Total Request Live in 2000], I got my last paycheck in the
mail from Baba at Buffalo Wing Factory with a note that said, ‘All the
wings are so proud of you.’ It was so nice. I still have it!”
Hilarie, with husband Jeffrey Dean
Morgan, daughter George Virginia,
son Gus, and their dogs.
Hilarie, 3rd from right, during her Junior
year at Park View High School
SPRING 2019
9 FLYWASHINGTON.COM