Leighton Meester is enjoying the hustle and bustle of her busy life. The Single Parents star is opening up about raising her 3-year-old daughter, Arlo, with husband, Adam Brody, while remaining active in her career.
“I just don’t believe in balance. I think that’s not possible if you’re a working mother — and with single mothers, I cannot even imagine that,” the Gossip Girl alum, 32, told Shape magazine for its April cover story published on Monday, March 11. “I love playing Angie because we discuss how hard the struggle is to feel like you are enough. Some days my husband makes dinner, and some days I do. Other days, I’m too tired, and I eat a bowl of cereal for dinner. It’s just the thing we do to make it work.”
Though Meester is currently starring alongside Brad Garrett, Taran Killam, Kimrie Lewis-Davis and Jake Choi on the ABC sitcom, she explained to the magazine that though her “career is really up there for what makes me feel fulfilled,” she doesn’t “rely on it to be the number-one thing that gives me confidence.”
She added: “I try not to look to my status and my career as a life goal. I gain a lot more confidence from time with my friends and family — people whom I love, who love me, and whom I’ve built relationships with — and that goes for people at work as well. Truly, those things are what make me the happiest, and I think that if I’m doing well on that side of things, then I’m doing well.”
As for her most important role, as a mom to her only child with the O.C. alum, 39, Meester feels “really lucky.” She added, “And yet, still, I stepped into the hardest job in the world: being a mom. One thing I have come to learn as a parent is that you have to step back and let your child struggle a little — let them fall down at the playground. It’s the way they’re going to learn.”
Us Weekly confirmed in February that Brody will soon join his wife on Single Parents as he’s set to play her ex Derek in a guest role. However, when it comes to offscreen work, Meester and Brody enjoy being active.
“My husband also taught me how to surf, and in the last year, I got really into it,” Meester told Shape about her newfound hobby. “I’m also making time for soaks in the tub, even though there’s often a toddler in there with me.”
