'Scandal' star Katie Lowes says she should've had '7,500 babies' while Shonda Rhimes was her boss because the showrunner treats working moms 'unbelievably' well

• Katie Lowes praised Shonda Rhimes while promoting her partnership with La Quinta by Wyndham.
• Lowes got her big break on "Scandal" and next stars on Rhimes' new Netflix show, "Inventing Anna."

Katie Lowes is set to star on her fourth Shonda Rhimes show, and she has nothing but praise for the groundbreaking showrunner - particularly when it comes to Rhimes' support for new parents.

While speaking with Insider to promote her new partnership with La Quinta by Wyndham for its "Thankful for Mom" virtual meetup events, Lowes opened up about her positive experiences working with Rhimes, first on "Scandal" and more recently on the coming Netflix series "Inventing Anna" about the notorious "fake heiress" Anna Sorokin.

"Shonda Rhimes is the greatest thing that ever happened to me, in my entire life, truly," she said. Lowes also said that it was Rhimes who gave her the idea to start her successful "Katie's Crib" podcast - and also produced it through her company, Shondaland - while Lowes was pregnant with her first child, Albee Shapiro, on the set of the final season of "Scandal" in 2017.

The "Private Practice" actor specifically praised the way Rhimes, a mother of three, treated pregnant women and moms on the sets of her shows.

"She took care of me so much so that she didn't even want me going up and down the stairs of my trailer. They built me a porch so that it was safe," Lowes said. "In fact, I should've had 7,500 babies while Shonda Rhimes was my boss, because she takes care of pregnant women and moms unbelievably well."

Support among fellow moms is another reason Lowes, who has two kids, wanted to partner with La Quinta for its virtual talks, like "Boss Mom 101" and "Making Time for Mom," that seek to help busy moms tackle the holiday travel season.

"I've never felt more of a sense of community than being, like, covered in poop, your kid's screaming on a plane, and other women on the plane being like: 'I've been there, honey. You're doing great,'" she said.

Lowes also teased a bit about her next team-up with Rhimes, 'Inventing Anna'

Rhimes acquired the rights to adapt Sorokin's story into a series inspired by the Cut article written by Jessica Pressler, "How Anna Delvey Tricks New York's Party People," in 2018. Sorokin infamously tricked Manhattan elites into believing she was a German heiress named Anna Delvey and conned banks and socialites out of thousands of dollars in the process.

Lowes, who is from Long Island, New York, said her first thought when she learned Rhimes was adapting the story for Netflix was: "Please let there be a part for me in it. Please, please, please, please, please."

Luckily, there was. In the show, which is set to premiere in 2022, Lowes plays a "natural-born follower" named Rachel, a fictional character thought to be inspired by Rachel DeLoache Williams, a former Vanity Fair picture editor who was friends with Sorokin.

DeLoache Williams wrote "My Friend Anna," a 2019 book about her experiences with Sorokin and how she ultimately realized her friend was a scammer after Sorokin conned her out of $62,000 during a trip to Morocco. She eventually worked with authorities to coordinate a sting operation that led to Sorokin's arrest in Los Angeles.

Lowes said Rachel was "so different from Quinn" on "Scandal" and she's excited for people to see her play a character inspired by a real person, something she'd never done before. She also praised her costar Julia Garner, who plays Sorokin, saying viewers would be "really blown away" by Garner's performance.

"I would forget my line, because I was so busy watching her. I'd be like: 'Oh, crap! It's me!'" Lowes told Insider.