Writing Though it came as a surprise, writers of
Secret Life were faced with a challenge when writing began for the second season. In January 2009,
Molly Ringwald announced that she was expecting twins of her own. She told
People Magazine that
Brenda Hampton was working on writing her character's pregnancy into the storyline of the show.
Kenny Baumann, the actor who plays
Ben Boykewich, confirmed that someone would die in the second season of
Secret Life. The character would be a "significant male character" and the death would be a terrible tragedy. It was later revealed that
John Schneider, who portrayed the role as Grace's father, Marshall, left the show due to multiple shows and projects he has. Marshall was written out of the series in "The Big One".
New and returning characters Actor
Brando Eaton was cast as
Ashley's new gay sidekick,
Griffin, who has a recurring role in the season. Actress
Rumer Willis, appeared in
Secret Life as Heather, a pregnant girl in the episode "Knocked Up Who's There?". She interacted with
Ben in a way that got
Amy jealous. Actor
Austin Stowell was cast as Lauren's new boyfriend, Jesse, who has a recurring role in the season. Their relationship sparks the discussion of
interracial dating, as Jesse believes that Lauren is not interested in having sex with him because of his race. ==Reception==