Denée Benton Jokes She ‘Forced’ Audra McDonald into Being Her ‘Godmother’: ‘I’m Crying to Her About Breakups’ (Exclusive)

The Gilded Age’s Denée Benton is opening up about her offscreen bond with costar Audra McDonald.

While on the red carpet for The Gilded Age’s Television Academy for Your Consideration Event in New York City on Nov. 18, the actress, 33, told PEOPLE it’s been “a dream come true” shooting the HBO hit with McDonald, 55, who plays her mother in the show.

“She’s like the best example of meet your heroes,” says Benton. “You know, they say don’t [meet your heroes], and I’ve definitely had some experiences, but she has just been more than I could have imagined.”

The Tony nominee jokes that she “absolutely forced” McDonald into being her “mentor” and “godmother” on set.

“I’m crying to her about breakups, I’m asking her acting tips,” she says. “I’m like, ‘How do you look that good at this stage in your life? What’s the tea?'”

Benton says that with season 3 of the series, which premiered in June, she wanted to do her character Peggy Scott’s grief journey “justice.”

“As an actor, I was so excited to get such meat written [for me], especially in the finale,” she says. “It feels like a Peggy short film. There’s like this three act play that happens when she’s excited and then she’s let down and crushed. It just felt like a playground that I really wanted to show up to.”

In between scenes, Benton says dance breaks were a common occurrence.

“We learned some cute TikTok dances,” she says. “Me and Louisa [Jacobson] always have good girl talk in one of our trailers, like crying about some life discovery. It’s a very good set to be on.”

The trickiest part of the show? The costumes, according to Benton.

“We love to shoot the winter in August in, like, 95 degrees, and we’re in wool,” she says. “So, when we open our coats and corsets, steam comes out sometimes.”

A tip she’s learned to keep comfortable in her costumes involves eating a Chipotle burrito during her corset fittings “to make sure that I can survive after lunch.”

“Very often we are crouched on the floor with the dress hiked over our shoulder covered in napkins, eating chicken wings,” she adds. “We have to get some photos of the gremlins we truly are on set.”

The Gilded Age has been renewed for a fourth season, though a release date has not been set. Season 3 of the show is streaming now on HBO Max.