Mandy Moore ‘Questioned Everything’ After Giving Birth: ‘Maybe I’m Not a Good Mother’
Mandy Moore‘s motherhood experience hasn’t been easy. She plays a parent of three — triplets no less — on NBC’s This Is Us. But it wasn’t until shortly before the TV show’s sixth and final season she herself became a mother. Now she’s sharing what parenthood’s been like for her so far, including all the emotions she’s felt along the way.
Why ‘This Is Us’ isn’t on tonight
The Pearson family’s taking a break from TV. A new episode of This Is Us typically airs every Tuesday night on NBC but that’s not the case in February 2022.
Why? The Winter Olympics. The network’s coverage means This Is Us Season 6 won’t return with new episodes until Feb. 22, 2022.
Mandy Moore became pregnant during Coronavirus
In a March 2022 cover interview for Health magazine Moore looked back on her journey to motherhood. She and her musician husband, Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith, welcomed a son, August, in February 2021.
But, as Moore told the publication, Coronavirus (COVID-19) had been a factor in her getting pregnant. Asked if there was anything she’d been able to do over the last two years she hadn’t been able to do before Moore said “get pregnant.”
“We had been trying to get pregnant for a while, and I think it took being together at the same place at the same time,” she said before adding that Goldsmith’s “always on the road.”
The 37-year-old continued, saying Coronavirus allowed them some time without typical stressors.
“Maybe whatever stresses we had put on ourselves in terms of trying to have a baby or just the external stresses of life in general — once that was out of the equation, it allowed for things to take the natural course,” she said.
The ‘This Is Us’ star admits motherhood’s been a lot
Moore’s motherhood experience hasn’t been all baby snuggles and onesies. She’s now 12 months in as a parent. Her son, whom she calls Gus for short, is a year old. The biggest surprise about it all, according to the actor-singer, is that “every day is different.”
Beyond that, there are so many emotions. “It is overwhelming on a level that I never expected,” Moore said. “All of the clichés are true. The love is so immediate.”
However, there’s also the element of constant change that had the Walk to Remember alum doubting herself.
“‘Oh, you’re nursing. The baby’s sleeping.’ You figure out your routine,” she said. “Then maybe three months in felt like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t have the skillset for this. Maybe I’m not a good mother.’’
“I questioned everything,” she said. Moore recalled seeing Goldsmith fill the role of parent and father so easily. As a result, she scrutinized herself as a mother.
“I looked at my husband, who seemed so at ease—it was so natural for him. I felt bad about myself and what I brought to the table as a mom,” she said. “And it made me question everything.”
“I was like, ‘Is this feeling going to last forever? Am I just going to feel unworthy, unprepared? Is this just the foreseeable future?’” she recalled. However, the feeling didn’t last. “A week later, I found my equilibrium again,” she added noting people’s advice that “everything is a phase.”
Moore’s trying to go easy on herself for skipping self-care
The This Is Us star says for her, as a relatively new mom, “it’s about having grace” when it comes to wellness and self-care.
“It was so much easier when I was pregnant, to find the time to take care of myself,” she said, recalling chiropractor appointments, weekly acupuncture, and prenatal massages. But that changed when Gus arrived.
“It’s not feasible and so, again, I try not to get down on myself about it,” she noted. “If I do have free time and I’m not working, I’d much rather go on a walk with Gus than rush off to go get a facial.” Ultimately, it’s all about “constantly walking that tightrope of what is going to suit me best today.”
