Kristin Chenoweth wants to tell people her dog ‘came out of my vagina’

Kristin Chenoweth is taking puppy parenthood to the next level.

The Wicked actress proudly discussed her enthusiasm for her dog, Thunder, in an interview with PEOPLE. “When people say, ‘Oh, it’s just your dog,’ I want to go, ‘She came out of my vagina. What are you talking about?’ I love my dog. Okay?” she said.

Describing herself as “a crazy dog person,” Chenoweth said that she feels a connection with her dog that transcends species. “I swear, Thunder can look me in the eyes, she’s got human eyes, and she’ll be like, ‘Mommy, it’s okay,'” the actress said. “I don’t know what it is. She’s seen me in my worst and my best, and I’m so glad she can’t talk because then I’d be in real trouble.”

Thunder is trained as a service animal who helps Chenoweth manage her anxiety, and can also detect bouts of vertigo brought on by the actress’ Meniere’s disease, according to a 2024 interview with Katie Couric Media. Chenoweth wrote a picture book inspired by her relationship with Thunder, What Will I Do with My Love Today?, in 2022.

One of Chenoweth’s previous dogs, Madeline Kahn, died in 2016, and was named after the late actress from movies like Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles. 

“When she went to heaven, I was devastated,” the actress recalled. “I literally said, ‘God, why would you give us these precious angels to take care of and then take them from us after such a brief time?’ And what I keep hearing, the handprint that I keep on my soul, is that they’re here to teach you patience and unconditional love.”

Chenoweth also said that she feels a divine dimension in her canine companions. “I take it as a very big privilege to have a dog,” she said. “Why get a dog unless you want unconditional love? I think I have several feelings, and some of them are a little spiritual in nature when I talk about it, but dog is God spelled backwards.”

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Chenoweth previously detailed adopting Thunder in a piece for Guideposts. “I thought maybe I should get a new dog. If I was ready,” she wrote in 2017. “Was it too soon? Was I betraying Maddie somehow? I didn’t think I’d ever own another dog. After all, the two of us had been together for 13 years, and she’d gotten me through thick and thin.”

The actress continued, “Then my eyes fell on the cutest ball of brown fluff, a puppy with soft dark eyes like chocolate pudding. The staff said she was a poodle mix, maybe part Maltese like my beloved Maddie or maybe something else. She turned her head and looked at me with a ‘take me home’ expression that melted me.”