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Eva LaRue
By: Dani Klein Modisett
Very well indeed. As one of the stars of "CSI Miami" and mother of happy and healthy five-year-old daughter Kaya, Ms. La Rue finds nothing to complain about these days. Except maybe how reticent other moms are to share how hard it is to be a "hot mom."
"I just wish more moms shared with each other how they pull it all off. There is so much juggling and multitasking. It's easier for me to keep on the "hot" track because I am paid to stay on it. Not all Moms have someone to paint and spackle you and put you in cute clothes."
The other thorn in her size two side is guilt.
"No one prepares you for the amount of guilt you feel as a mother. There are so many ways to feel guilty when you become a parent! Either you have to go to work and you feel guilty about being away from your child, or you are home and feel guilty because you are not playing enough. Or you do spend the time playing and then feel guilty because the house is a disaster."
According to LaRue, the antidote to all of the mommy angst is making sure you take time for yourself.
"Whether it's skipping out for a mani-pedi, or taking a weekend away with a girlfriend, you have to take the time for yourself and you'll be a better mother because of it. You'll come back rested and renewed and ready to play fifteen rounds of Princess Monopoly."
I had never even heard of Princess Monopoly before, but playing with Eva LaRue actually sounds fun. Doing just about anything with this feisty, honest, passionate half Puerto Rican lady sounds good to me. Eva's Puerto Rican father lives in Florida and she loves taking Kaya to visit him and all her relatives who live in the South. While there she gets immersed in the flavors and culture of her Grandfather's world. These relatives often visit Los Angeles, always making sure to pack the plane with Arroz con dulles and other foods native to their country. I thought my mother was the only one who did that.
As far as balancing her blossoming career with being a mother, Eva tries as often as she can to have Kaya around. One time they even shot a commercial together, a public service announcement. Kaya had begged her Mom to be an actress on TV just like her despite Eva's insistence that it wasn't nearly as glamorous at it appears. During the filming, Kaya had to sit still for 60 seconds while her mother delivered a monologue directly to camera. Naturally, the little girl quickly became bored with the process and got fidgety. But, it turned out to be another mom lesson for Eva.
"I knew I should have trusted my gut on this and said no. You have to know your own child and evaluate every situation you get into to see if it is comfortable specifically for him or her."
One aspect of her mom's work that Kaya loves is the make-up trailer at CSI. However, a lot of the work done by make up artists on the show is creating bruises and smashed bones and faces. They hang pictures of their work in their trailer and didn't realize it might be truly frightening until Kaya showed up. "So that day they spent a lot of time making her look gruesome with bruises and cuts everywhere so she would understand that it was fake and not be scared."
But there is nothing fake about Eva La Rue and very little she is scared of at this point in her life - including aging. "I never thought I'd be thirty-nine ramping into forty and be in such a great place. I thought it would be time to wrap it up!"
Surprisingly, the philosophy that has propelled LaRue throughout the highs and lows of her life is "Hope for the best and expect the worst." My husband lives like this and it drives me crazy, but coming from Eva it sounds genius.
When I ask her what advice she has for Hotmomsclub readers she quickly responds,
"Don't stop being yourself. You're a mother, and a wife and an employee and you get too far away from the person you were before you became all those things." You have to always protect that person. And before hanging up the phone she adds:
"Being a mother is the most challenging job you'll ever love with all your heart."
Amen. I second that!
Interviewed and written by: Dani Klein Modisett
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