Being a mom can sometimes feel like putting a giant puzzle together: we have no clue as to where to start and don’t get me started with the amount of missing pieces! Juggling everyone’s needs, constant guilt about things, and worrying that we're not doing enough – it’s no wonder wine o’clock is a favorite time of the day for many.
Whether looking after the kids full-time, or having a career to attend to, there can often feel like there’s judgement no matter what we do. That’s why for our third episode of Shapermint TV, we sat down with Christina (a stay-at-home-mom) and Faye (a working mom) to work on the puzzle of motherhood together.
It’s hard to remember that we’re actually doing our very best every single day, no matter what anyone says. A helpful tip? Fill your social media with moms who get the struggle and can offer REAL advice and support when the going gets tough. It’s not that hard to find them. In fact, here are our three absolute FAVE celebrity moms that keep it real on social media. If you don’t yet - follow away!
Kelly Clarkson
We’ve followed the inspiring rags to riches story of Kelly Clarkson since she exploded onto our screens in the first season of American Idol, 2002. Crowned as the winner she got a record deal with RCA Records; and as of 2018, the singer has released eight studio albums, one compilation album, one remix album, and 39 singles. She’s also received three Grammy Awards. Not bad at all.
Now, Kelly juggles work life and homelife, where she’s mom to her two kids with talent manager Brandon Blackstock and stepmom to Brandon’s two children from his previous marriage.
“When you work, you miss things,” she admitted on the Today show in 2018. Missing out on family time is hard for Kelly: “I have a lot of mom guilt,” Clarkson revealed in a 2016 Redbook.
Early on, Kelly tried to do it all by working and parenting at the same time. The babies would go on tour and it was a struggle. “So [now] they're coming out on certain shows every once in a while," Kelly said. "Because I figured out the last time I toured I was trying to be a supermom and a pop star at the same time and that was really hard."
She added: “There are days where I cry and I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I can handle all this!’ or get it all done. But at the end of the day, 99 percent of the time, it’s awesome and it’s worth it, and that’s what I say to myself.”
On being herself as well as a mom, Kelly says “I love what I do, but I feel like I relied on my career a lot for my self-worth. And now I’m more than that. I’m a mother and a wife and have this whole other thing going on.”
Her own mom, Jeanne Ann, who single-parented Kelly from an early age, was a big inspiration, “I always tell my mom, ‘Thank you so much for preparing me for [the music] industry,’” the singer told Good Housekeeping. “She’s so honest and blunt with me. It’s awesome.”
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez, nickname J-Lo, rose to fame in the 90s with a string of Hollywood movies, followed by pop and dance chart hits like Jenny from the Block, 2002 reminding us she won’t forget her Bronx heritage despite her international superstardom and wealth.
The bootylicious singer and actress has twins Max and Emme with ex-husband Marc Anthony. She’s also set to become stepmom to fiancé Alex Rodriguez’s two daughters, Ella and Natasha. Since welcoming her son and daughter in 2008, Lopez has been open about her parenting experience.
“They do something to you where you want to do everything right for them. And obviously, no parent does everything right. It’s this weird thing that happens where you are striving to be as good as you can be so that they turn out well. And that requires that you be a really great, evolved, aware person in every moment. Which is pretty awesome. But it’s also putting tremendous pressure on yourself ― which is why women feel so guilty!”
In a 2017 interview with Hola! Magazine, Lopez reassures us on being an imperfect mother “Your mistakes are not what define you. What defines you is what you do after your mistakes and how you learn what is meant to be learned from those moments.”
First-time mother at 39, J-Lo firmly believes it’s important to be who you are at any age, “that your life is not over once you have kids and it becomes only about your kids.” So when we’re putting everyone’s needs before our own, she reminds us “That to be a great mother or great parent or great woman in this world, you have to be a great individual first.”
Chrissy Teigen
We love straight-talking Chrissy Teign, model, television personality and author of Cravings (a recipe book for people who like food). She’s been the host of the long-running TV show, Lip Sync Battle and graced the pages of such magazines as Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Italian Vogue.
Married to musician John Legend for six years following a romance that began when she was cast in the video for his song “Stereo.” They have two children together, Luna and Miles, after struggling with fertility issues for years.
As of 2019, she’s amassed over 11 million followers on Twitter with her ‘say-it-how-it-is’ candid and humorous style. “No one told me I’d be coming home in diapers too” she tweets a few days after the birth of first-born Luna. A month later, she jokes “enjoying my slightly bigger hip action. Did some calculations and only 46 more babies until I acquire my ideal shapeliness.”
Motherhood means a lot to Chrissy, she waited a long time to meet her babies and even then, she speaks openly of the reality “when luna is awake I want her to sleep and when she is asleep I want her awake. This is my parenting life.”
In an Instagram post that got over 1.7 millions likes, she writes “Luna, Luna please. Luna one smile. Please for mama. Okay that’s fine, you don’t have to. Don’t listen to people that tell you smile. But please can you smile. No it’s o.k nevermind. Maybe one smile?”
This pretty much sums up the struggle all moms have between encouraging our children to face the world and trying to shield them from the pressures of being in it, don’t you think?
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