Just for the record, pretty much all moms are “working” moms. But balancing the full-time job of parenting with a whole other full-time job adds even more stress — and subtracts more sleep (even if that second job is at least relatively well paying). And this week, some of our favorite celeb mothers are weighing in on the good old mom-to-job grind.
Orange Is the New Black’s Laura Prepon, for one, returned to set this week after giving birth to her baby girl — with fiancé Ben Foster — in August. Prepon has been pretty quiet on the topic of new motherhood, but we loved her Sept. 18 Instagram post of her on set as barefaced, bespectacled Alex Vause. Prepon captioned the selfie, “Back at work! @oitnb season 6! #workingmom #herewego #alexvause.”
Prepon’s quick postpartum return to the OITNB set was no surprise; she told Extra TV before the birth of her little girl, “I can’t really take time off because we go back to work… she’ll be coming to work with me. It’ll be great. It’s just a matter of scheduling.”
It will be great, because 1) the set includes a huge tableful of snacks and 2) there’s a whole lot of people to keep that baby girl rocked and cuddled and entertained — things that most new parents welcome.
Meanwhile, which celeb is struggling with working-mom guilt? That would be Eva Mendes, actor, clothing designer and stealer of Goslings (kidding — kind of). Mendes told E! News she was completely unprepared for the mixed emotions she’d have about dividing her hours between her job and her girls with Ryan Gosling. “Oh my God, nobody warns you about the guilt that you feel when you do work!” she exclaimed.
More: How Eva Mendes Chose Her Second Daughter’s Name
Her Eva Mendes X New York and Co. clothing collection is a combination of accessories, daywear and evening fashions — with “an emphasis on dresses,” according to Vogue U.K. Mendes also told Vogue back in 2013 that she is passionate about designing: “It’s taking up all my time, but in the best way possible. Everything I see is a possible design. My mind is consumed by it.”
Since the arrival of daughters Esmeralda, 3, and Amada, 1, Mendes admits she has to fight to find time for all of her vocations. “I don’t know how I find balance,” she told E!, “because I think it is like a day to day kind of struggle, you know?”
More: 7 Ryan Gosling Quotes About Parenting That We Love
Mendes admitted to Shape in March, “I’m always running around with the kids. I never sit down — I’m on the move all day.” She added, “What people don’t know about me is that I love being home. Instead of hitting the red carpet, I’d rather be with our girls.”
Despite all the time she spends with their daughters and despite a regimen of self-care to stay strong, Mendes still struggles to manage the feeling of guilt that creeps in. “I’m all for obviously taking care of myself — that’s how I can take care of them of course — but that guilt that is just kind of always there. It’s like, ‘Ugh, this is gonna be there forever now.'”
We working moms can relate. That’s for sure. (Even those of us who don’t book covers of magazines.)
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