The Conners star Emma Kenney feels lucky to have boyfriend Conrad Hilton by her side.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Kenney, 27, opened up about working on her foster-based rescue Yogi’s House with Hilton, 30, saying, “My boyfriend and I have always been huge animal lovers. That’s something we bonded over years ago when we first started dating. When I started Yogi’s House, he definitely wanted to get involved and I’m so grateful for his help.”
Kenney praised Hilton for his hard work. “He is extremely hands-on and he also just listens to me on the phone with veterinarians literally all day, every day. He never gets annoyed about it and he’s always there to offer his advice,” she shared. “So it’s definitely really special to be able to do it with him.”
In addition to collaborating with Hilton, Kenney founded Yogi’s House with fellow actress Nicola Peltz-Beckham. “We both are super passionate about dog rescue, which is kind of how we bonded initially and how Yogi’s House came to be,” she added. “It’s something I’m so grateful for doing with a partner and it’s definitely a dream come true.”
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Kenney got her start as a child actress in projects such as Shameless, The Conners and more. She has used her platform to transition to philanthropic work as well.
“That is how I spend probably half of my day at least working on it,” Kenney told Us. “I honestly feel like I’m getting a veterinary degree at this point because I deal with the foster vets every single day. I honestly feel I’m learning a lot about the medical side of raising dogs, which is really interesting and something that I would be interested in learning more about.”
She added: “Every single day something new comes up. It’s a lot of people. I deal with a lot of people every single day and we create these relationships and we have such an amazing foster community and we really couldn’t do the rescue without our fosters since we’re foster-based. So I’m so grateful for every single volunteer that we’ve worked with. We could not do it without everyone.”
Kenney took great pride in the professional venture, saying, “Ever since I’ve been a kid, I’ve always been super passionate about animal rescue and I always knew owning a dog rescue was going to be something I did one day. So to actually have it come to fruition and be something I’m doing every single day is such a dream come true.”
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When Kenney isn’t helping rescue dogs in Los Angeles, she is working in front of the camera. Kenney’s hit ABC series The Conners is currently airing its final season and she’s already thinking about what comes next.
“I’ve been working so consistently since I was 9 and this is the first time in my career and in my life that I’ve been able to take a step back and think about what’s next for me. I really want to be intentional with my next role and my next project,” Kenney, who also appeared on Happy’s Place, explained. “I just want to explore a lot of different creative avenues, whether that’s multicam again or movies or anything. I want to try it all. I’m definitely excited.”
The Conners airs on ABC Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET
