Her personal life has undergone tremendous change in the past few years, all of it positive. She married the love of her life, actor Corey Hardrict, and she gave birth to a baby boy named Cree. With so much transition, she’s also managed to maintain her career — a feat that she insists wasn’t as easy as it looked.
“It’s very hard to balance family and career,” she admits. “When you are a mother, it’s hard in general. Being a mother is a 24-hour job — you’re constantly taking care of another person. But when you’re a working mom and a wife, it adds other pieces to the pie. I have all of these pieces that I have to try and cut evenly and divide. But some parts of my life are going to have a bigger piece or a smaller piece. The key is prioritizing those pieces. Part of it can be my health and working out, part of it is career, part of it is wife. Another part is being a sister, then an actress and a businesswoman. I think how I balance is I realize what my pieces are and then I prioritize those pieces and decide what’s most important to me, which is my family, my health, and then my career. And you have to forgive yourself. Sometimes I’m going to spend more time with my career than with my son; other times I’ll be more with my son more than my career. I think being realistic with my expectations and my goals and forgiving myself — that’s what gets me through.
“Motherhood has taught me that I really am a patient person,” she says with a chuckle. “I think being a mom, you have to learn how to embrace patience. And that’s the positive side. I’ve learned that I do really enjoy being a mom. I love seeing my son grow and evolve and turn into this human being. But also, being a mother has taught me to slow down — [which is] kind of weird because I really haven’t stopped since I became a mom [laughs]. But what I mean by ‘slow down’ is, really look at the value of life. Really look at what life is all about. When you aren’t a parent or a mom, you go through life living selfishly. It’s all about you. But once you have a child, you realize that you’re no longer doing things for yourself, you’re doing things for your child. So that’s what being mom has taught me: stop and smell the roses, value and appreciate life.”
