Julianne Moore Balances Motherhood, Acting, and Writing!

Balancing a career and motherhood is never easy, but Julianne Moore admits she has it better than most.

“I think that what we’re looking for as parents is a certain type of flexibility,” she explained. “The nice thing about the stuff that I’ve done is that it does afford me plenty of time to do both.”

For Julianne, it’s finding the flexibility to spend time with her husband Bart Freundlich and their two children Caleb, 11 ½, and Liv Helen, 7, and nurturing her careers as an actress and author. It’s not easy, but the rewards make the challenges worthwhile.

“Sometimes you feel like, ‘Oh my gosh, how will I do this?’ And you don’t always do everything well. But one of the things I do say is that it’s a very nice problem to have. The fact that I do have this wonderful, beautiful family, and work that I enjoy – I’m lucky to have the problem.”

Julianne says her children show “very little interest” in her work, adding that “They really are interested in you simply as a parent.”

She recalls recently asking for Caleb’s help in rewriting the third book in her Freckleface Strawberry series.

”I said, ‘Hey honey, will you just do me a favor and take a look at it?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, sure Mommy.’ So he starts to read it, and I’m watching him, and there’s a TV screen right above the computer screen, and his eyes start to drift up to the screen.”

“So I said, “You know what, you don’t have to read it.” And he said, ‘Umm … maybe some other time.’ So, you know, he could care less. I think they’re proud of me, and they love me, but I’m [just] their mother.”

Despite its title, her latest book Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully is not about bullying, Julianne said. Instead, she explained ”it’s about a child who perceives one child to be a bully.” As she reminds her children, looks can be deceiving!

“This is one thing I talk to my kids a lot about, when they come back and say, ‘So and so is mean,’ or ‘They don’t like to play,’ or ‘I don’t like the way they play,’” Julianne said. “And I say, ‘Well do you think the kid is not necessarily mean, but the kid is shy or the kid is scared, or someone has been mean to that child and that’s why they’re being mean? Why don’t you try to figure out what’s going on with that child.’” She firmly believe that children “aren’t naturally bullies,” so she encourages her children to dig a little deeper.

“Often they say, ‘You were right Mommy, she’s not mean, she’s shy,’ or ‘She didn’t feel like she had any friends.’ The whole thing about bullying is you can’t wait till kids are nine, ten, eleven, twelve and say, ‘Hey this kid’s a problem.’ Start young when they are really, really little and try to talk to them about empathy and compassion and take a look at what this child’s situation is. Nip it in the bud that way.”

It sounds like Julianne’s book would be a great way to encourage children to see the good in everybody.

Image source: Newscom