When Soleil Moon Frye welcomed her first child in 2005, she felt a nagging loneliness. “I felt, early on, a little bit of alienation,” the Nutrisystem ambassador told Us Weekly Video. Then Moon Frye, 41, became active on social media and found a community of moms who were feeling the exact same way. It changed her life.
“I would share a picture of my kid writing on the wall with markers and say, ‘Here’s my house today,’ and people would be like, ‘Oh, that’s like mine,’” the Punky Brewster alum added “I’d knock my coffee over, and it would be all over the cushion I’d write, ‘Here’s my morning’ and people would be like, ‘Me too.’”
Though the actress has come a long way since she first brought Poet, now 12, home from the hospital — she and husband Jason Goldberg are also parents of Jagger, 10, Lyric, 4, and 22-month-old Story — she remembers her early struggles like they were yesterday. And that’s why Moon Frye is especially grateful for her online community.
“It just made me feel not so alone,” she explained “I was struggling with opening the stroller. I thought I was going to know how to do all those things. I wasn’t prepared for that. And it was great to discover, through social media, that I was not alone, and there were other messy parents. There were other parents that were failing and having the same experiences, and I wasn’t on this journey solo.”
In retrospect, Moon Frye wishes she hadn’t been so hard on herself. “It’s so easy to feel like the weight of the world is on you and it’s so easy to feel judged by others,” she she told Us. “Each circumstance is so different and every baby is so different, every personality. Just don’t be too hard on yourself.”
Watch the video above to hear more of Moon Frye’s mom tips.
