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Why ‘RHOC’ Alum Meghan King Doesn’t Like to be ‘Defined as a Mother of a Child With Cerebral Palsy’

RHOC' Alum Meghan King Opens Up About Parenting a Child With Cerebral Palsy
Meghan King. Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock

Though Meghan King has been vocal about caring for son Hart, who has Cerebral Palsy, she refuses to let that become her entire identity.

Related: See RHOC's Meghan King's Sweetest Moments With Her Kids: Family Album

“I don’t like being defined as a mother of a child with cerebral palsy. In fact, I actively work against it,” the Real Housewives of Orange County alum, 37, captioned an Instagram selfie with the 3-year-old on Thursday, March 10. “I seldom share with you the challenges Hart faces and instead focus on how great he’s doing while trying to give equal focus to my other two children and myself. But the reality is that Hart’s brain injury affects all of our lives daily.”

She continued in her post: “Although CP is defined as a motor disability, its symptoms rear their heads in a plethora of other ways. Today is the second day in a row that Hart has had to leave school for poor behavior. This not only renders me unable to work during that short school window but it leaves me feeling frustrated and helpless for both of us.”

RHOC' Alum Meghan King Opens Up About Parenting a Child With Cerebral Palsy
Meghan and Hart King. Courtesy Meghan King/Instagram

The Missouri native — who shares Hart, his twin brother, Hayes, and Aspen, 5, with ex-husband Jim Edmonds, with whom she was married between October 2014 and October 2019 — further opened up about the internal questions she asks herself about Hart’s development.

Related: Meghan King’s Dating History: A Complete Guide to Her Love Life

“Is his environment too inconsistent? Is he not getting enough attention? How do I balance his needs with the other needs in the household? Is there such a thing as balance? Is there a solution,” she continued in her Thursday social media upload. “Is happiness achievable or are we bound to a lifetime of rollercoaster behaviors, merry-go-round therapies, and erratic emotions that eat into everyone’s time and energy? The unknown is daunting. How do I keep him integrated in normal schooling when he acts violently or disruptive? How? Thank you for attending my depressing TED talk.”

King previously confirmed her son’s CP diagnosis in October 2020 one year after sharing his Periventricular Leukomalacia condition.

“Even though he’s the same kid, I expected it to hit me hard. But it didn’t. It didn’t hit me hard at all,” the former Bravo personality wrote via her blog at the time. “In fact, I felt relieved. … This is the once dreadful diagnosis I knew was coming since that fateful day I googled the right thing and it hit me like a truck: CP. I knew it was CP since Hart was a few months old. I just knew.”

She noted: “Hart’s brain isn’t paralyzed, but there are some areas of damage. CP quite simply manifests as a motor disorder. That’s it. Yep. It has nothing to do with cognitive function, hearing, etc. (although these are deficits often found in people who have CP they are referred to as ‘comorbidities’ and not CP by definition).”

Related: Former ‘RHOC’ Stars: Where Are They Now?

King explained that Hart’s diagnosis “changes nothing” and he would “continue receiving the therapy he’s already getting.”

The lifestyle blogger — who announced her separation from estranged husband Cuffe Owens in December 2021 — welcomed Hart and Hayes in 2018 with the former St. Louis Cardinals athlete, 51. Nearly one year later, the University of Mississippi alum shared that Hart had “irreversible brain damage” as she documented his various therapies and doctors’ visits via social media.

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