Corona Chronicles: 13 Celebrity Moms — From Lady Gaga’s Mom to Brooke Shields — Share How They are Celebrating Mother’s Day During the Coronavirus

For a special edition of Variety’s Corona Chronicles, we asked moms to talk about how they are dealing in these unprecedented times ahead of Mother’s Day.

Here are 13 essays — from Lady Gaga’s mom Cynthia Germanotta to Brooke Shields — about the messages they’d like to share. This pandemic continues to impact the industry. Read Variety’s ongoing series of stories.

Cynthia Germanotta
Co-Founder Born This Way Foundation and Lady Gaga’s mom

For those of us who can, one of the bravest things we can do is stay home, many of us even separated from our loved ones.

In the midst of these challenges, we’ve found ways to adapt by creating routines, learning to appreciate the little things, and celebrating life’s moments like birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries. Mother’s Day is no different — it’s still a day where we can express gratitude and kindness to all the moms and mother figures in our lives.

One of the things that I am reflecting on during this time is the value of connection. Like many, I find it challenging to endure being physically separate from my loved ones, but fortunately, I’ve found comfort in the unique ways we’re connecting. From Zoom birthday parties to more intimate FaceTime conversations with my girls, we’ve appreciated the opportunity to be there for one another despite living thousands of miles apart.

I grew up in a small town in West Virginia during a time of what many call true grit, and there weren’t examples of how to talk about our emotions, much less our mental health. It was as a parent that I learned — from my own daughters — how to be a more compassionate and mindful listener.

For the children in our lives, there is nothing more meaningful than taking the time to listen to them. We can start with an invitation for them to share how their day is going, what they’re enjoying or struggling with, and what their experiences are, but as guardians, we must equip ourselves with the tools to support them beyond that conversation. You can check out Born This Way Foundation’s Get Help Now page for helpful links and resources.

As @momgerm on social media, I also feel a special connection to our community at Born This Way Foundation, which I co-founded with my daughter Stefani in 2012 to help build a kinder and braver world that validates the emotions of young people everywhere. Through my interactions on the video series #TeaWithMrsG and our Channel Kindness platform, I hear from young people every day and feel inspired by their determination and genuine desire to support one another during this time.

Our young people are meeting this global challenge with a sense of resilience we can all learn from. My heart also goes out to families that are dealing with difficult circumstances this Mother’s Day. In The United States, one-in-three jobs held by women has been designated as essential, and many mothers, especially single mothers, are struggling to find 24-hour child care. For mothers who are working from home, they’re having to navigate working full-time, parenting full-time, and trying to carve any time out for themselves.

To all mothers, we are in unprecedented times, but we will get through this, and I hope you are kind and gentle with yourselves in the process. If you can, take twenty minutes to go outside for fresh air, write down something that you’re grateful for or that you love about yourself, or check in on a neighbor or loved one. Our research shows that those who live in kinder communities also report being mentally healthier — and we need that now more than ever.

While this Mother’s Day will undoubtedly be one we remember for years to come, I’d like to encourage all of us to make it memorable for the right reasons — compassion, kindness, and bravery. As my daughter often says, “It’s okay not to be okay.”

I only hope that we emerge from this filled with gratitude for the little and big moments in our lives, mothers, parents, grandparents, guardians, and children alike.

Thank you for all that you do and Happy Mother’s Day.

Mayim Bialik,
Actress, author and activist

“Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.”

What a time to try and make your first movie. Four years ago, I wrote my first screenplay following my father’s death. I was set to direct it – my first opportunity directing. Miracles occurred: Dustin Hoffman, Candace Bergen, Simon Helberg and Olivia Thirlby were cast. Mr. Hoffman had hosted a table reading, my DP and I had a design board, I even had a soundtrack growing in my head, and I was doing a rewrite as we gathered funding to start shooting this spring.

And then the world shifted. Not overnight, but over the course of our existence on the planet. And over the course of centuries of abusing the earth. And over decades of political nonsense which shoved reality farther into the recesses of our world which are now both exploding and imploding.

As I prepare a virtual pitch for Cannes (yes, there is such a thing), time slips away. I have a series commitment from FOX to film “Call Me Kat,” a new sitcom starting this fall which I am both starring in and producing with Jim Parsons’ production company.

This film was set to be shot before “Call Me Kat” went into production.

My production company under the supervision of Mackenzie Gabriel-Vaught and Brandon Klaus is busier than ever as we hire writers for projects we have in development. This quarantine has given us a lot of time to read scripts, interview writers, and have Zoom meetings to gauge compatibility. I have pitched two new projects – things I have never even attempted before – to Warner Brothers which have been well received and are moving into development.

This situation has made my artist spirit come alive in new ways: I wrote a pilot with a partner. I am thinking more about the digital world than ever before and where my place is in it. I have more I want to create, more I want to do, more I want to offer. Moving anything forward right now practically seems far off. The challenges seem to multiply with every news report. But the artist in me says, “What more can I create?”

The Yiddish proverb heard throughout my life seems ever appropriate now: “Men tracht, und Gott lacht.” We plan, and Gd laughs. Here’s hoping I get to make more than just Gd laugh very soon.

Laura Benanti
Tony Award Winning Actress and Singer

I don’t think any of us could have imagined that we would ever be in this situation. When I came out to New Jersey with my husband and daughter, my mom (who is a voice teacher) expressed her concern for her students whose shows had been canceled.

This is a generation that self-identifies as anxious more than any other and that has me concerned. I took to social media to say, “I know it’s not the same as performing live, but please know that if you want to send me your performance videos and tag #SunshineSongs I want to see it.”

I thought I’d get 25 videos and I’ve had over 7,000 videos so far. The original post has been viewed almost 4 million times. Since then, I’ve partnered with my friend Kate Deiter-Maradei (a community activist) and the organizations k4connect and seniorly to create The Sunshine Concerts. We’ve tailored these concerts to people who don’t have social media, primarily our aging loved ones and hospitalized children. We’re asking everyone sho wants to tune in as well so that these communities know they are loved and seen. (Head to sunshinesongs.com to watch and for more information).

I was also planning to release an album at this time and the original single we were going to release just didn’t feel appropriate for the world we are in. The only one that felt remotely cheery of the 11 songs was the Jonas Brothers cover, “Sucker.” I am donating 100% of my earnings from the single to foodcorps.org . 1 out of every 6 kids in the US relies on their school cafeteria for their daily nutrition and they’re making sure that no child during quarantine goes hungry.

My friend Kate Mangiameli and I wrote a humorous book for moms to celebrate the ups and downs and in betweens of motherhood. That released in April. Brilliant illustrations by Helene Weston!
People keep asking what am I binge-watching. I’m binge-watching my three-year-old and I’m up all night obsessing about ways to help people.

I’m with my mom and on Sunday and we’ll have a family breakfast. Hopefully, my mom and I will get to sleep in! My husband, daughter and I will go and visit my mother-in-law (while maintaining social distance). She just lost her own mother, so I imagine Sunday will be tender for her. We do social distance dance parties and play social distancing soccer. Last time, she and my father in law set up a chalk village for my daughter on their driveway. It was very sweet.

Mothers are always called upon to do a lot. And this time is no different, although more difficult!! I’m grateful to be quarantining with my wonderful mother and father. I know how lucky I am.

Valerie Bertinelli
“Valerie’s Home Cooking”

Being a mom during this is the hardest part. my son lives four miles away and I haven’t been able to hug him in almost two months.

We went into quarantine on his birthday, and every year we usually go out to dinner. We always see one another no matter what. We FaceTime a lot and the other day, he played me a tune on the piano and I was trying my hardest not to sob. My heart.

That’s the hardest part. Not being able to hug my son. He won’t let me. He’ll say, “Mom, we just need to get through this.”

He’s the one talking me off a cliff. Not being able to get out and help people. There are 30 million people out of work that we know of.

There are all of the grocery store workers and I’ll say, “Thank you so much for working so hard.” I gave the mail lady some brownies the other day. They have always been essential and people are now just beginning to recognize them – the postmen, the postwomen, all the people who get us our mail and all the people who stock the shelves. They have always been essential to us and I appreciate them more than ever.

There are also the healthcare workers who are amazing human beings and God Bless them. I’m doing what I can with the organizations that I know of, but other than that I feel helpless. It’s driving me wackadoodle.

The new season of my show “Valerie’s Home Cooking” premieres on Mother’s Day and I’ve seen a lot of people that have been baking from home. I love it. There’s an art to baking and there’s an art to cooking. It’s a way of expressing yourself. And after baking or cooking, you can eat and enjoy what you made. That’s a small highlight of this all; seeing people cooking again and experimenting with what they have in the kitchen. It’s so much fun to see the creativity.

It’s challenging and hard not to see your friends. But at least we can hop on the phone or Zoom to say hi and talk about books we are reading. I need to stay home and keep other people safe.

I’ve been giving to some organizations that I feel strongly about:
GiveDirectly.org
DomesticWorkers.org
NoKidHungry.org
BlessingsInABackpack.org

These organizations are all about getting food and cash to the people that need it. This is less about me and more about the people that need help right now.

Brooke Shields
Actress

I’ve been surprised by how much the kids are enjoying being all together. In normal life, it feels like the girls are always trying to go out and go hang out with their friends. It takes precedence over spending any amount of time with their parents. I’m amazed that they have been wanting to do TikToks with me and puzzle, or just watch a show. They also have been taking turns cooking meals. They fight us on the games, but we insist and inevitably we all always laugh .

I’m surprised by how much we’re laughing. Albeit mostly at mom’s expense, but it’s worth it. I’m hoping mother’s day is a day where they don’t make fun of mom. It’s my one wish for mother’s day.

Things like bedtimes have become sort of irrelevant, whereas if they were going to school and you’re getting them up at a certain time, they would normally have a “lights out by 11 p.m..” Now, their schedules are all over the place. I’ve had to loosen the reigns in many areas including screen-time, because it’s their only form of communicating with their friends.

We were watching the news every single night and I noticed an increasing level of unrest. With kids, usually as long as it doesn’t directly affect them, they don’t seem to stress, but this has been a time when we want them to be even more cognizant of other’s suffering and instill more empathy.

We’ve begun to limit the news surfing however because there’s been a level of anxiety that [has been running through to all of us. I want them to know the truth, but the problem is that it’s really hard to know what the truth is. The news is giving completely contradicting reports.

We’re trying to find a balance of filtering the information and have them have empathy for others and realize how lucky they are.

Here we are, we haven’t left the house except for a bike ride. It’s such a BLESSED thing to be able to do because we are not in the city, and that is a real gift.

My youngest has been doing a lot of baking and she enjoys making grilled chicken with pesto. The eldest will make sesame noodles, but they do love the way I make eggs. I’m [trying to keep us on some form of a schedule.

I’ve started posting funny workout videos. At first, I thought it was self indulgent, and that people wouldn’t care. But I started to have fun with it and people began saying things like, “You got me off the couch.” I’m learning that this time is about community and I’m trying to create a little bit of a community with silly short workout videos.

This is a particularly challenging time because there are no jobs and this pandemic has set us back a great deal. I’ve been backing City Harvest because they’re all about boots on the ground: https://www.cityharvest.org/ and Women in Need https://winnyc.org/ because at this time,70% of New York City’s homeless are families with children. WIN is housing women and helping them to prepare to get into the workforce.

Desi Lydic
“The Daily Show” correspondent

6:52 a.m.: I’m jolted awake by my 4-year-old: “Mommy, Daddy, we’re gonna build a rocket ship. 10, 9, 6, 7, 4…” I make a mental note to add counting backward to his homeschooling curriculum as I roll out of bed. It’s remarkable how unfazed he is given all of the life changes; I breathe a sigh of relief and decide I’m going to be just as resilient.6:55 a.m.: We’ve run out of Hazelnut Coffee mate and I have a complete meltdown.10:00 a.m.: My son has a zoom with his pre-k class. It’s chaotic, but it gives the kids time to connect with each other and their teachers, god love them. I realize that I forgot to have him do the art assignment over the weekend, so I quickly sketch out a rainbow and pass it to him under the camera (mom hack).

11:11 a.m.: I’m 11 minutes late for our “Daily Show” field meeting. We meet every morning on Zoom to go over upcoming pieces. “The Daily Show” is a very collaborative place, when we are in person we constantly pop into each other’s offices and we thrive off of being in the same room together, feeding off of that creative energy. We try to re-create that on Zoom, but we’re all in our homes, many of us with kids and dogs so we mute when we aren’t speaking. Someone will throw out an idea or a joke and it’s just crickets. Or maybe that’s just my poor attempt at a joke during a pandemic, I guess we’ll never know…

1:00 p.m.: My husband takes a break from his work to take our son for a walk. I compulsively remind them to be cautious one or seven times before jumping on a Skype test with our sketch director. I keep hitting the wrong button and he kindly pretends not to mind.

2:16 p.m.: Our executive producer Jen [Flanz] FaceTimes me; normally she would text, but we are all so starved to see one another, we’re just going straight to FaceTime. She tells me I’m on the show today. I regret not washing my hair.

4:30 p.m.: I give my son a sleeve of Oreos and let him put stickers on the coffee table so I can jump on Skype to record the chat with Trevor. It’s so nice to see his face. My kid walks through, the dog barks, Siri chimes in. It’s messy and it’s life and it’s now all part of the show.

7:00 p.m.: We fling open our window and cheer for our heroes on the frontline. My son, fresh out of the bath, stands at the window in nothing but a Spider-Man towel and claps as loud as he can. The moment isn’t lost on me: a little superhero cheering for all the big superheroes. My heart fills with gratitude.

Corrine Kingsbury
Writer, “In the Dark”

During day one of quarantine, I sat at my desk, staring at a blank screen. Writer’s block is nothing new for me, but this was. How was I supposed to focus on something as trivial as writing television when people are dying? Friends of mine were being diagnosed. Some landing in the hospital. One in the ICU.The first couple of weeks I didn’t get anything done. I was obsessed with the news. Obsessed with finding Clorox wipes. Obsessed with the tiniest tickle in my throat. And then one day
something sorta horrible happened… all this became normal. I’m one of the lucky people that is still employed during this time. I didn’t want to get fired, so I had to get my shit together and do my job. Even if that’s something as trivial as writing television.Enter Zoom. Truthfully, I’d never heard of Zoom until two months ago, and now I use it every day to run our writers room. I’m sort of surprised by how well it works. And how quickly we all got used to it. Plus, we can wear holiday pajamas. Kids and dogs regularly enter the frame.There’s no way to tell if your mug is filled with coffee or wine. The stories are being broken.Scripts are being written. It’s also comforting to see everyone’s faces. Even if they are in tiny little boxes on my computer screen.One of the things I love about being in a writers room is that it’s this little safe space. The people I’ve been staffed with know me better than a lot of my friends because when you’re breaking a story, and trying to do so authentically, you end up sharing the most personal things about yourself. And to still have the room during these uncertain times, even in this weird capacity, is a giant gift. I’m not really sure what this means for the future of TV when things go back to normal.Or how it’ll change the writers room. Or production. Maybe no more handshakes? I’d be down for that. I’ve also been trying to kill unwanted hugs for years. I do think after this is all over we will have mastered how to work remotely.I never thought there was a world where I didn’t have to go to the office every day. My son had just turned one when the pilot of “In The Dark” was shot. I went from spending every waking moment with him to seeing him only on the weekends and evenings.Then COVID-19 came along and I was forced to stop. We all were. It’s sad that it took a pandemic for me to spend every waking moment with my kid again. But here we are. He often joins me in “the writers room.”We bake. We build forts. We eat every meal together. I’ve tried so hard to hide my anxiety and make this a happy time for him. But the other day I asked him if he wanted to FaceTime with his friend and he said, “No more FaceTime. I want him to walk through the door.”He doesn’t understand what’s happening. He’s three. He doesn’t understand why he can’t go to school. Or the park. Or why he has to see his grandparents through the window. He has absolutely zero clues that he is living through a crazy fucking time in world history. I’ve tried to explain it, in every way possible, but again, he’s three. The only thing I could think to do is
write about it.I’m making him a book about everything that’s going on in the world right now along with pictures of our little life in quarantine. My hope is that he will read this when he’s older, understand the tragedy, and remember the joy.Like all the dance parties and when he and his mommy learned to bake bread together. I have a scar from the oven to prove it.

Bridget Regan
Actress, “Paradise Lost”

Early this year my husband and two kids and I were flying home to Los Angeles after visiting our family in New Zealand. The long story short: vomiting baby, off-loaded, airport hotel, try again, tarmac four hours, canceled flight, vomiting daughter, airport hotel, vomiting adults, five days later we made it across the Pacific.

After getting back to our home in LA I joked to my friends, “I’m never leaving my house again.”

The irony!

Yes, it’s been challenging to say the least. Homeschooling a child in French (no parle French) is at the top of the list. What’s kept my head screwed on is knowing nothing I’m going through compares to what so many others have endured especially all the beloved healthcare workers and the kind of conditions they are facing daily. Hearing first hand from my friend who is an ER doctor getting screamed at by patients for not having tests and then herself not being able to test herself before returning home to her family. Hearing from another friend who is a charge nurse of supplies being stolen. I know we’re at our worst when we’re scared and vulnerable, but we have to do better.

One of my closest friends told me she tested positive for COVID in early April. She is young, healthy and has no previous health conditions. Very thankfully, she has fully recovered. She said the virus hung on for days and days. The worst night she felt she couldn’t take a deep breath and she was scared to fall asleep. Her grandmother’s Oximeter assured her she was getting enough oxygen and she avoided going to the hospital. She was advised to manage her symptoms at home if still possible.

This is all very scary. Taking it one day at a time, giving back when I can and focusing on the good in the world has helped. Some silver linings: I’ve gotten to know my neighbors (6 ft apart) in our cul de sac as all of our children bike around in circles, I’ve learned to make pizza dough and sushi rice, my husband and I haven’t filed for divorce and my baby doesn’t seem to notice we never leave our house. Most importantly, I have mountains more gratitude for everything and everyone.

Thank you healthcare workers.

Catherine Reitman
“Workin’ Moms”

After breaking the story for three months, my writers’ room had just released to draft season five of “Workin’ Moms,” when I learned that we wouldn’t be rejoining anytime soon. The season, now written, sits on my desktop, awaiting the future of the world. The writers and I now meet (virtually) each day to work on the scripts. The question on all our minds: Does this pandemic need to be reflected in our season?

On one hand, I pride myself on reflecting the realities of what it is to be a modern working
mother. The current landscape of parents everywhere has grown rich with story as to whether you work or not, every parent is learning the cruel reality of what it is to home school your own
children. I recently had to teach my six-year-old how to read a clock. It was hell. Each minute-
which he can now identify- felt like an hour. This all happened during my lunch break from the
writers’ room, which I rejoined with heroine tales. The other parents in our group laughed
knowingly.

This also feels like an opportunity to reach across the great divide of working parent versus stay at home parent, to highlight how much we now have in common. Our show often delves into the differences between the two but this could be a moment in history where we could relate.

This pandemic has put us all in similar boats. My sister, an exceptional mother who happens to not work, and I have never gotten along more. When we speak about our daily struggles they are now the same. This seems like a crucial moment in history that would be remised if not incorporated into the upcoming season.

Then again, aren’t we all fed up with the Corona coverage? I currently live with my parents,
who consistently have the news on and while I’m admittedly curious, I also feel beaten down by the constant bad news. Will people turn to our show in hopes of returning to a simpler time? A place where best friends could meet for a martini in a bar… within six feet from one and other.

Is it not the responsibility of those of us, lucky enough to have a job in this industry, to create
an escape? For a viewer, it could potentially feel cruel to tune into an alternate universe, only
to be confronted with the same problems that we’re currently dealing with. As a content creator, I am torn between reality and fantasy. My job is to design a world where you can relate to the real-life struggles of being a working parent. As our world changes and grows more complicated, it is now my responsibility to decipher between what enriches these tales and what is too close to our own pain.

Andrea Savage
Creator, “I’m Sorry” and “A Grown-Up Woman”

March 12th: We were on day 9 of a 50 day shoot for “I’m Sorry” season 3. I was in the thick of it, going 300 miles per hour, tweaking scripts, performing, dealing with locations, casting, wardrobe, yelling profanities at the unanticipated flight patterns over our exterior scene that seemed to never take a pause. (Side note: where the f**k are all of those valley planes always going?)

And then suddenly in an instant, it all stopped. It was like hitting a brick wall. But… a brick wall that, along with the insanity, also brought sleep, much-needed quality time with my daughter and husband and crazily, the least amount of daily stress I have had in almost 5 years. Of course, the feeling of being cut off overnight from my work family – whom I adore and am so thankful for – was jarring and extremely hard to adjust to.

Really, other than the two beings I live with, my only outside interactions have been the moments of unbroken eye contact I make with my mailwoman, delivered with an intensity and passion that I usually reserve for lovers. I just really need her to know how much I appreciate her. She seems concerned. I get it.

And now Mother’s Day is upon us. I feel like the hard parts of being a mother during quarantine have been pretty covered already. Remote learning sucks ass and sometimes we hide in our car. But I have a dirty secret that I am nervous to reveal. I have a deserted production office 10 minutes from my house where I go to “work” at least 4 days a week. Do I answer some emails, occasionally write something, tweak a script.

Sure.

But mostly I: do crossword puzzles, stare at the ceiling, listen to music, dance for myself, eat candy, pretend to meditate, sleep, paint my nails, sing show tunes, FaceTime, listen to podcasts and call friends.

FOR A FEW HOURS I GET TO DO WHATEVER I WANT! COMPLETELY BY MYSELF!

And then 6pm rolls around, I text my husband and daughter that “I think I am able to wrap things up soon and will be on my way home.” Now you know everything. Please don’t hate me. And mom friends,

if you know where I live, please don’t hide in my bushes in an effort to hit with me a weapon and steal the keys. Also, there is also an alarm code, so the keys will really only get you so far. Just let me take the win.

Joy Osmanski
“Duncanville”

I stared at the phone, aching with anxiety. I felt sick to my stomach, knowing we had to tell our son’s birth mother that we might not be able to see her. That the trip she had planned, saved for, taken unpaid time off for, may have been for nothing. It was a visit we all had eagerly looked forward to for months, one in a series that has evolved from a slightly awkward meeting to a far more relaxed family reunion. But of course, emotions and expectations were still high, with everyone moving carefully around the days and weeks leading up to seeing each other.

It was March, and our family had just started to shelter in place. Preschool had officially closed, swim lessons had screeched to a halt, we were all acutely aware of our faces. The world was struggling in the mire that is Covid-19, and California stood at the edge of that darkness, waiting for it to explode. My husband and I had initially thought we’d make a single exception to our quarantine bubble, and bring our son’s birth mom in, but the more we learned, the less it seemed like a wise decision. We worried we were asymptomatic and blanched at the thought of getting her sick. She had recently traveled by bus and we worried about the amount of contact she had sustained. It was still a time when people were on many different pages about how to respond to the spread of the virus, and I remember wondering if we were overreacting.

When we adopted our son, we expanded our family to include his birth mother. I was also adopted as an infant and have never had any information about my birth family. So the decision to adopt openly was deeply personal and deliberate. Now, having also given birth, I am an adoptive mom, a birth mother, and a stepmom, and while those facts feel mundane, they have also given me beautiful and painful insights into what it means to be a parent.

Dreading the call to our son’s birth mother, I was twisted with guilt and sadness. And then, our governor announced that the stay at home order was mandatory. Suddenly, the choice was gone. The call was emotional but all three of us, as parents, agreed that safety was the best decision.

There are so many things I’m looking forward to, but our little family reunion is closest to my heart.

Pamela Adlon
“Better Things”

There’s this anxiety of trying to stress how important it was for social distancing. My kids are extremely social, active and engaged, so I had to do that without scaring them to death.
I was trying to scare my 84-year-old mother to death to stay home, but she was like, “I’ve lived
through a war.”
My mother was being a kamikaze spring breaker and I told her, “You’re a spring breaker. There’s no difference between you and the kids in Florida. You’re reckless.” Finally, she got it and she has been staying home.

I shut my office down on Friday March 13 and I was racing to write an article a magazine and the whole time I thought no one was going to care about it, this is coronavirus. They wanted me to rewrite the article three weeks later.

I’m very lucky because I got to finish editing the show. My post-production supervisor got me a 4k iPad and I finish post from this iPad. I worked on the color, sound and VFX and I directed people over the phone through this app.

I’m extremely lucky I was able to finish the show and episodes to the way I needed it to look and sound. But it’s hard not being in that big sexy theater listening to the sound mix.
One of my assistant editors (I have three who are all women and I promoted one of our assistant editors this season) was given an episode to cut. Fortunately, she got to go to her first and only sound mix and that was right before they shut everything down.
It’s been an incredible gift to be able to deliver the show and not have to shut down in the middle of the season.
I think my kids are incredibly smart. Their mom has been a zombie doomsday prepper their whole lives.

I do think everyone is going to be in for a lot of pain if they don’t try to adapt. I feel it’s about adaptation right now. I think we should think about things that were wrong before and things that were fucked up before, climate, education, racism and how we are with each other, waste culture and capitalism. It’s all a part of it.
I feel we can’t say, “I just want things to go back to normal” because normal wasn’t OK. Normal was us going at this accelerated pace and now we’ve been given a shot and what we do with it is going to be the most meaningful thing for our future.

Everyone is in a thoughtful place right now. People need to be there for each other and respectful. The way we are connecting right now is an awesome thing.

Denise Richards

It’s been nice to be home and to be with the family during this difficult time. It’s an opportunity to just reset, reconnect and slow down. I think that is an important thing for everyone around the world to do if possible.

My youngest daughter Eloise recently started learning sign language. As a result of the pandemic, we have had to explore options for her to learn from home and online. She’s been making the sign for airplanes because she thinks I’m going to go away for work again soon. I’ve been reiterating to her that I’m not, but she just loves that her mom, dad and sisters are all here together.

It’s been challenging for my daughters to have schooling online, but I do think it’s been a fun adjustment for them to see other environments. For example, a teacher recently showed them a bird feeder in her house. The kids don’t see that part of their teacher’s life and it’s nice for them to see that we are all in this together at home in quarantine.

One change for me is that I’ve been cooking more during this time. It’s been so much fun to be home and to cook together, and bond as a family. But my heart goes out to everyone who has suffered and who is suffering. I know that we are very lucky.

Although I can’t be in production, I’ve still been keeping busy. I’ve been working on my skincare line CB ME Beauty for a few years, and it finally launched in the beginning of May. Taking care of my skin and having a clean lifestyle has always been important to me, ever since I was in my teens. I have super sensitive skin that changes depending on environments. I was so excited to do this because I’ve tried so many different products and nothing worked. My line is based on hemp seed oil that works for all types of skin.

Another thing I’ve worked on is my Quantum Reach foundation. Before I met my husband Aaron, I went through a lot of diagnostics for my daughter and it was really expensive. I’m blessed to have health insurance, but I know not everyone has the same means. We want to give back to help the animals and children so we formed this non-profit. We have programs for kids dealing with bullying issues and mental health. With the shutdown, we’ve had the time to focus on the different things we can do for the foundation.

For Mother’s Day, I’m not sure what we’re doing yet! Last year, my girls were so sweet, they booked a massage therapist all on their own and they brought me breakfast in bed. My big thing is I want my coffee in bed! I also told them, “The best Mother’s Day is when none of you girls have tiffs with one another.”

I’m just so grateful to have this time with my family. Although times are difficult, I think’s it’s making us reflect on what is important in life.

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