It has not and will never be easy to be a mom — whether you’re a regular person or a celebrity. Sure, celebs have some things easier, like finances or the ability to hire a nanny. But at the end of the day, being a mom will always be one of the toughest jobs around — if not the toughest. And these celebrity moms are so open about how they’re not perfect parents.
It’s helpful to see that even some A-listers don’t always have their stuff together when it comes to raising kids, which makes us all feel a little less alone. If Kristen Bell or Serena Williams also can’t have it all, then why should we expect it all for ourselves? Sometimes just getting our kids through the day is enough. We have to be easier on ourselves, and it starts with embracing that none of us is perfect at this job.
Mila Kunis
Chrissy Teigen
Chrissy isn’t afraid to be honest about being a mom — the highs and the lows. Like when she posted a photo wearing mesh underwear and a diaper after giving birth to son Miles. She said she does it to remind other people — and herself — of the realities of motherhood. “My posts of real mom shit, and wearing the diaper, and having that mesh thing, and real postpartum business? I think as important as it is for people to see me do that, it’s also really important for me.”
Jennifer Garner
Jennifer is a super hands-on mom, but even she doesn’t get it right all the time. “The absolute [greatest] thing about being a parent is that every day is a fresh start,” she once said. “You always can say, ‘Today we’re going to try this!’ And if it goes horribly, you can say, ‘Today we’re throwing that out, and we’re trying this!'”
You don’t have to be perfect at parenting to be doing your best.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
“Parenting is the hardest thing,” Sarah Michelle Gellar admitted to Today. But because she knows it’s impossible to be perfect, she doesn’t let other people’s critiques get to her. “I would feel mommy-shamed if I raised a serial killer,” she said. If you’re not doing that, you’re doing pretty great!
Olivia Wilde
We’d all love to pretend that our kids are super well-behaved all the time but meltdowns do happen — even to celebs like Olivia Wilde. And she was fine with admitting that on Twitter.
“Couple days ago my kid was having a level 10, defcon 1, couldn’t-control-his-body meltdown at a restaurant … The place was packed, and we were very much on display. I was in way over my head. I stayed calm, but I was kind of crumbling inside,” she said. “2 strangers, a young man and woman, approached and asked if they could help. I swallowed my pride and said yes, please … I thanked them and they said, ‘Hey, no problem. We all have days like this.'”
It’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Reese Witherspoon
Reese may look perfect, but no mom is. “How do I do it all with 3 kids & a full-time job? This is how. Me & every other mom,” Reese captioned a photo of her passed out in a bathrobe, with trash and food strewn around her. Every mom will recognize the complete exhaustion in this photo. It’s so normal to feel this way.
Gabrielle Union
Her life with Dwyane Wade may seem picture-perfect, but Gabrielle Union doesn’t think it’s possible to be a perfect mom. “A mother, to have it all, has to somehow also provide a check, also be superfreak Kama Sutra down to the ground, be a size double zero, be super present in the PTA but still putting in extra hours at work. It is impossible. There are literally not enough hours. To me, having it all is not having it all and it being OK,” she said to Health.
