Baby steps!
Kelly Rutherford's 1-year-old daughter, Helena, "started to walk yesterday, and we are so excited," the Gossip Girl star, 41, told UsMagazine.com at the Juno Baby Launch party at The Four Seasons in Beverly Hills Sunday. "We all make a big deal and clap."
Rutherford, who also has a son, Hermes, 3, with ex husband Daniel Giersch, says Helena is also "talking and is so expressive. She is talking with her brother… They were watching a video this morning and talking! It was very cute."
Hermes loves helping raise Helena. "He is really good and protective!" says Rutherford, as Hermes chipped in, "I'm a nice big brother!"
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Rutherford — who also starred in Melrose Place and Generations — says she balances single parenthood because, "I have a lot of time off. I worked for so many years and I really take the time now because my kids are little. I know soon they will be in school so I am really enjoying being with them. I had three months off from work and I really just spent it with them. Anytime I am not working, I am with the kids."
She says it's a perk her co-star Matthew Settle, 40, has a 15-month-old daughter, Aven, with ex Naama Nativ.
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"It's wonderful… It helps our characters really relate too because we're both going through the same things at the same time," Rutherford tells Us.
She also has a set of built-in babysitters with Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and the other young actors on set.
"They so cute when we go to the set," says Rutherford. "They always makeover the kids like crazy. They are like older brothers and sisters themselves and they are all very family oriented. It's very cute!"
