The Mission of Motherhood with Cynthia Bailey

This episode features actress, model and wellness advocate Cynthia Bailey as she shares her story of managing mother and how her experience with fibroids and pregnancy has helped to shape her wellness journey and advocacy.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Meternal dot M. She will sayto me, you know, mom,
why do you feel like you can'ttake a day? Like? Why do
you feel like everything's gonna shut downif you don't show up for one day?
Like you need a day? SoI decided to give myself a day
like even And most of the timeit's on Sundays. But if I actually

(00:22):
even take a day on Sunday,which which looks like for me just on
the couch, yeah, binge,watching Netflix like I like to do.
When I shut it down, Idon't want to do anything. Welcome to
me Eternal, Home to access andinformation for mothers of color. This episode
features actress, model, and wellnessadvocate Cynthia Bailey as she shares her story

(00:43):
of managing motherhood and how her experiencewith fibroids and pregnancy has helped shape her
wellness journey and advocacy. So thankyou for coming today. You know,
I appreciate this a lot. Youknow, we were having a conversation earlier
just about like the platform itself andjust like mother hood and like all those
experiences that we have, right,and it's so different for all of us,

(01:03):
right, and your mom, Iam a mom. Yeah, my
daughter, Noel is twenty three yearsold now and I was in my thirties.
Maybe I was like thirty five whenI had Noel. Yeah, one
of the most life changing experiences.The thing I'm the most proud of is

(01:23):
being Noel's mom than any of theother things that I have going on,
and pretty much with all the jobsthat I have, that's my number one
job. Yeah, because you're abusy lady. I am a busy lady.
Yeah. Yeah. And this thirdact is no joke, you know.
I break down my life and mycareer and acts act When was Cynthia
the model? Act too? IsCynthia the reality star TV personality? And

(01:48):
Act three is Cynthia the actress?Wow? That's a lot. It's a
lot. So how have you beenbalancing all that, like with motherhood.
I know your daughter's a little oldernow, but like in the beginning,
how did that all work together?Five? It's always been a struggle honestly
for me. I always just hadto keep in mind that I'm doing this
for her, like my success isher success. I always had my mom

(02:09):
on deck, Leon's mom on deck. I had a full time nanny until
Noel was like thirteen years old.When we left New York City to move
to Atlanta, she moved with us, so she's always had someone there.
Now she's at a point in herlife where she needs me, like it's
me, it's I'm the person thatshe wants. And I think, you

(02:30):
know, when I look back,I definitely had a lot of mommy guilt.
Even though I was working the wholetime, I missed a lot of
things. I missed a lot ofreally important things in her life. So
I got some making up to do. In this third act, I have
a little bit more flexibility with mylife and my schedule. I'm no longer
in the Real Housewives of Atlanta,so that used to take up a lot

(02:52):
of my time. So I'm ableto really focus a little bit more on
being a mom. And it's kindof like, you know, she's twenty
three, but she's always going tobe my baby. Yeah, And it's
like a different phase about the hood. We were just talking about, like
recently my daughter has gone on tocollege, and you know, I feel
like same mommy. Gil wasn't alwaysable to make these certain things, and

(03:12):
we kind of are really hard onourselves, but we have to sacrifice at
the beginning and we have to dowhat we need to do for our families
to make it work. Oh yeah, I mean looking back my mom and
go to interrot. Sorry, lookingback my mom and go to any of
my things. Like when I wasgrowing up, because she was it was
a different time. She didn't havetime, she had to work, and
she was doing things to make sacrificesjust to keep you know, the house

(03:34):
together, just keep food on thetable and stuff like that. So I
think with every generation, I feellike I've definitely was intentional when I became
a mom about the things that Iwanted to try to make sure I had
time to do with my daughter,like even just things like just being able
to communicate with her, Like wetalk about everything, things that I would
never I could never feel comfortable talkingto my mom about. We There is

(03:59):
no like you know, we getit in Yeah almost, I almost know
too much, which is great,right, because like I feel like the
better connected we are to our children, the more we can help them.
Well, you can't protect them ifyou don't know what's going on. True,
and you know, as teenagers,you know they go through I think

(04:19):
I hate it. I hated thirteenthirteen through sixteen I hated that because that
was the noun talking in the room, only come out for food? How
was your day good? How dideverything go good? Like the one word
answers. There was no real communication. So yeah, I didn't like those

(04:40):
years. I didn't like those years. But now the great thing about twenty
three is, you know, she'sshe's grown to some degree. She's legal,
so we can go you know,she can we can hang out together.
I'm single again now, so ifI want to go out somewhere,
I don't really go to clubs,but if I want to go to a
bar or lounge or whatever, likeno, I'll come with me, and
you know, she can have adrink with me, you know on yeah,

(05:02):
yeah, And I love that because, I mean, she always says
that's the time she feels as safeas drinking is with me, because she
knows I'm going to make sure she'sgood. I'm like, well, girl,
i'm back outside. You've got tomake sure I'm good now. And
I know that's right. You knowit's funny too. I was just thinking
about what you're saying about like allthese different like versions of motherhood that there

(05:23):
are, right, and it looksdifferent for everybody yes, and right,
and we I think it's interesting sometimeswe have this comparison of like what we
think motherhood should look like for eachand every individual. And I love that
you've just embraced what it's supposed tolook like for you and your family and
you've made it work absolutely. Youknow, again, just going back to

(05:44):
my mom, how the way shemother was completely different from the mother that
I am. And I do thinkit's just very individual. I think it's
very It depends on your circumstances,your finances. You know, when you
have to make work priority, obviouslyyou're just not going to have a lot
of time for your kid, andthat's just unfortunate. But it's just the

(06:05):
truth. So yeah, it's it'svery individual. And I what I'm the
most proud of is the fact that, and I know people don't like to
say, you know, you can. You don't need to be our friend,
you just need to be our mom. I'm her mom and I am
her friend, and and that's it'sokay for me. Yeah. Now,

(06:26):
other moms don't want to be friendswith the kids, right, But I
need to be friends with mine becauseI need to be best friends with mine
just so I can you know,keep the lines of communication open and if
we're best friends, I know everythingthat's going on. Yeah, So what
do you think has been the mostchallenging thing when it comes to motherhood for

(06:46):
you? The most challenging thing ishonestly my time. You know, I
am a serial entrepreneur. I'm superambitious. I've had a very successful career
throughout all the acts of my lifefrom modeling to reality star and then now
as an actress. I'm super superbusy. Just my time, just trying

(07:14):
to kind of pick and choose prioritizemy time. You know, I have
some me time, Like I wantto definitely make sure I have time to
spend with Noel, but I needa lot of Like what I learned in
my fifties is I need some metime. You know, I need to
properly reset and decompress after a dayof working. I travel a lot,

(07:40):
you know, in my business,I always have to kind of be on,
which is exhausting. So when Isay that for people that are in
the business, like you know,it was like, like I just finished
doing the Tamer Hall show, Likewhat that looks like from the moment I
get out of the car, that'ssomebody to greet me. So I can't
be like, oh, hey,what's up. I gotta be like,
ah, he nice to see youguys, excited to be by Yeah,

(08:01):
you know what I mean. It'sjust a certain level of energy that you
always have to have socially in awork environment because it just because people want
to feel comfortable, and if youdon't have that perky, happy attitude,
they think something's wrong. They canget something for you, and you're like,
no, nothing's wrong. I'm justtired. But even it's almost like
you don't really you get to betired, but you just don't get to

(08:22):
act tired at work. I thinkthat goes with motherhood too, right,
Yeah, I oh, trust andbelieve. When I'm with Noel, she's
not looking at me like, oh, I know you're really tired, but
can you make me my favorite youknow, home fries that you make me,
that you make for me. Noel'slooking at me like your mom,

(08:43):
this is what I want. Youmake it the best. It always tastes
the best when you make it.Blah blah blah blah blah. And she's
not I don't even think you knowall things. I get tired so when
I do, it freaks her out, like, what's wrong with you?
I'm like, I think I'm tired. I think I'm just going to take
a day. But I will sayshe she hasn't hurts me. She's been
so so good for me, especiallythroughout this part of my life, you

(09:05):
know, starting over again in mypersonal life. But like she will say
to me, you know, mom, why do you feel like you can't
take a day? Like? Whydo you feel like everything's gonna shut down
if you don't show up on oneday? Like you need a day?
So I decided to give myself aday like even and most of the time
it's on Sundays. But if Iactually even take a day on Sunday,

(09:26):
which looks like for me, juston the couch, yeah, binge watching
Netflix like I like to do.When I shut it down, I don't
want to do anything. I don'teven want to get off the cat.
I would just get up to eatin his bathroom. That's it. But
one of the things that I lovethat she taught me. Oh what I
was gonna say, Well, soI'll do Sunday. But if I feel

(09:48):
like by the time I get toWednesday, I need another day, I'll
just take another day. And Ididn't know that we got to have a
mental wellness day. Yeah, Noeltime, she was like, you know,
I'll call her and be like,hey, babe, what's up.
She's like, Oh, I'm notgoing to be available today. I'm taking
a mental wellness day, so I'mnot going to be on the phone,
I'm not going to be on socialmedia. I'm checking out today. And

(10:09):
I was like, we get amelt to wellness day, Like, I
don't know, I can have amelt to wellness day. And that's something
that I've incorporated into my life too, because sometimes I'm not tired. Sometimes
mentally you're tired, Yeah, andI just can't do it, Like I
just need to be still and Ijust need to sit down, and I

(10:33):
make myself do that, where asin the past, I've just pushed myself
to keep going until I push myselfuntil I'm sick, and then then I'm
sick and tired, which then I'mthen I'm shut down for two or three
days because you know, I maycatch a cold or whatever because I'm just
doing too much. So when youtake a look back at the past,
right and you look at like whereyou are now in your wellness journey and

(10:54):
being an advocate in that space,Like what made you like pay attention to
your health more in terms of likewhere you are now? I think,
you know, as a woman ofa certain age. You know, just
from the moment I turned fifty,I knew I had to make my health
mentally and physically a priority in mylife because you know, as you get

(11:16):
older, you just have to,you know, pay attention more attention to
those things. I've always been prettyhealthy, but I don't want to take
that for granted, So I tryto do things to you know, preventive
things so I don't get sick.Like I'm just really on top of,
you know, the things I need, like you know, making you know,

(11:37):
when I go to the gnecologists orjust go get a check up,
I'm like, you know, checkmy hormonal panels. You know, do
I have enough? Am I lowon this? Am I low on that?
Like things that they wouldn't normally volunteerto do, but like you just
have to ask for certain things.So I love, like my my friends
circle of women who are just alwayslike, hey, did you get you're

(12:00):
you know, testosterone check? BecauseI have the testosterone pellet and I feel
so much better and da da dah, da da da dah. And I'm
like, wait, I didn't knowI was supposed to get that checked.
And just little things like that.I think that, you know, health
is truly wealth, one of thethings I know for sure, But I
don't know anything else. I canbe as ambitious as I want to,
I can be as great as Iwant to be, But once my health

(12:24):
shuts down, then I'm kind oflike dead in the water in a way,
because everything shuts down once I youknow, if you're not healthy,
you know, so I don't.I try to stay on top of it.
Yeah, And matter of fact,I actually I just did my first
women's health and wellness retreat. Yes, I refresh and revive your soul.

(12:48):
It was amazing. This was thefirst one and it actually came to me.
I was my girlfriend Danika Berry,who was my friend and she's also
my pr She was hanging out withme at Lake Bailey and We're just hanging
out on the couch without robes onon and eating chips and drinking cocktails and
netflixing and we were just talking aboutdating life and just talking about like our
kids and like you know, likeyou know, health things like we were

(13:13):
talking about like she was like,how's your asked you to doing? How
was this? You know, how'syour cholesterol? How's whatever? And we
were just it was just such aneasy like she's busy, she's a super
boss. I'm a super boss.I was like, this is so cool
to just sit here and chill likethis, to make time to just have
a day like this. I waslike, I wish there was like a

(13:35):
place we could go and be aroundother women like us and share these kind
of conversations, because like I gotso many nuggets from her, she got
so many nuggets from me. Iwas like, if we open this thing
up to like one hundred, onehundred and fifty women, God only knows
like the information that we can,you know, get from each other to
educate each other, to support eachother, and to just inspire each other,

(13:56):
because like, you know, nomatter what, there's always that day
where you're just like, you know, everybody has a day and then you
just you know, you know,you need that energy and that support from
your friend and be like Cynthia,you got this, Like you do a
lot, like you're being really reallyharder on yourself. So I was like,
yeah, I wish it was aplace that we could go for like,

(14:18):
you know, a weekend and justhang out with other bad boss bitches
like us. And she was like, we should create it. You should
do like a Cynthia Bailey. Youshould do it. At first we thought
about doing a La Bailey. Shewas like, you should just have women
come here and we could have likea whole weekend thing and we could do
whatever whatever. And I was like, yeah, you know what I should
do that. I should do it. Cynthia Bailey health it well in this

(14:39):
retreat, and I did. Idid the first one in La. That's
wonderful. It was incredible. Itwas so incredible. And I think the
thing that I loved the most wasmost of the women, the boss women
that I know like yourself, LikeI mostly only see you guys in a
work capacity. It's always worked.I never see you guys like we just
when do we ever have time tojust hang out and just be present and

(15:01):
just connect. And when I tellyou, these women showed up on a
Thursday eight o'clock. It was fromeight o'clock in the morning until six pm.
I was like, well, nobody'sgonna come at eight, and then
I was like, man, youknow, we didn't really you know,
by the time we set it up, we didn't realize it was on a
Thursday and whatever whatever, because wewere like really putting it around Beyonce's concert
and I was like, no,I'm going to Beyonce on the second,

(15:24):
so we should do a retreat onthis day. So anyway, that was
just kind of an oversight. Butwhen I tell you the women, probably
over seventy five women ended up showingup. Wow. And what I loved
just watching was them after an hourjust put their phones down, put their
phones down and actually be present andjust let it go like we would.

(15:46):
You know, as soon as theywalked in the door, they were giving
a robe and some slippers and theyjust let it go. You know.
I would look over and see likeRobbie Reed like oh the you know,
getting IV drips and know, gettingmassage, and I was like looking at
all these women that I'm so inspiredby and that I admire just relax.

(16:06):
I never see them relax, likeeverybody's going to be like, hey,
I'm a ball so some yeah,here we are on this carpet, here
we are here, whatever, tojust sit. We had we had a
beautiful home in Hollywood. It's reallynice mansion. We had the backyard literally
decorated, like you felt like youas soon as you walked in the door,
you felt like you were like inBali food and drinks and just like
people just wonderful panels. But Ididn't want it to be like, Okay,

(16:30):
now we have to listen to apanel. I wanted things to be
moving the whole time, Like youcould be getting ivy drip while there's a
panel going on. You know,we were talking about fibers, we talk
about mental wellness. You know,you don't have fibrosistant not something you're interested
in. You could be getting massagedduring that time. Sure, But it
was a safe place where women feltcomfortable just sharing things about themselves. Like

(16:53):
I was able to learn things aboutwomen that I never even knew was happening
to them. They just felt comfortabopen up. People. Women were crying
talking about like different dark spaces thatthey've been in in their lives. And
we're like, you know when you'regoing through those things, because I think
we've all probably experienced different dark timesand I remember fighting through different things that

(17:14):
I've gone through and you feel soalone and you feel like you don't get
to go through those times like youalways have to have it together. And
just being able to see some ofthe strongest women that I know in the
game say oh, yeah, I'vebeen suffering with this, I've been suffering
with that, but really feeling safeto do that. Like I've never been

(17:37):
in a situation where I would seethese women and it'd be like, oh,
let's talk about depression, let's talkabout this, let's talk about that,
you know. So I think it'simportant for us to be able to
help each other keep going, justkeep going. And I know that sounds
so simple, but sometimes you justyou're just like you need an out system

(18:00):
that I feel like sometimes we're superwomenand we put this face on you just
go and we're inside just crying,right, And that's just like not the
way to be. Yeah. SoI love that you're doing that and you're
normalizing these conversations because it's so important, right, like it is. I
mean, hormones are important, youknow, ros fibroids are important. Like

(18:23):
I don't even know what a fibroidis, and I'm just throwing it out
there, like I know what itis, and so many women don't know.
Yeah, and that was that wasone of the reasons why I didn't.
I'd never heard of a fibroid untilI was pregnant with Noel and I
was going to get a check themand they were like, oh, you
have a little fibroid and what whatever. It was like maybe the size of
a grape. And I was like, oh, my god, is it
gonna hurt the baby? Is itbad? Like what's going to happen?

(18:44):
And they were like, no,that's fine, it's fine, it's gonna
be fine. You're you know whatever. They totally like play it, damn.
But what they didn't tell me wasthat this thing is going to continue
to grow mm and it could downthe line cause problems for me a lot
of times, like when women aretrying to have kids if they have fibros,
that they're too big, the fibersgrowing and growing growing, it like
competes for the baby's space in thestomach, I mean in the uterus or

(19:04):
whatever, so it can be It'sa big thing, especially in the African
American community. Sorry, it's abig thing, especially in an African American
community because it affects mostly us.So although I no longer suffer from them,
I actually had a procedure. Letme tell you what it is.
A fibrod is like a non canceroustumor that grows. The biggest one that

(19:29):
I hadn't grow as big as almosta watermelon sometimes, and my largest was
like the size of like maybe likea large orange almost. Do you feel
it almost like a grapefruit? Well, I always have like this this bulging
stomach, you know, because ithas you know, you know, you
have to have room for it togrow in there. And what happens is
it's like basically it's like this islike say, this is the fibroid.

(19:51):
These are the blood vessels that arefeeding the fibroid. So the procedure that
I had, and it just growsand grows and it just keeps them bigger.
So it's like taking up space andyou're uterus. So the procedure that
I had is called UFE, you'dread a fibroid embolization. So what that
does is they stick. They likethey did an decision down in my area
down there. And what it doesis it's almost like if you could just

(20:14):
imagine like clogging up the vessels theveins so that the blood can't go through.
So the blood is trying to gothrough, but like like if you
can imagine, it's not like sand, but like whatever, they put it
in a blocket. So now theblood can't get to the fibrous so a
fiber can't grow because it's not gettingany more blood. So then adventure to
shrink shrink shrinks and goes away.So I'm in menopause now, so all

(20:36):
of that stuff is behind me.And then once I had that procedure,
I was done with it anyway.But sometimes it can't. They can come
back, but that part of mylife is over. But I am a
brand ambassador for USA Fibroids Centers becauseI felt like, even though it's not,
you know, my life anymore,I still want to keep the conversation
going. And one of the bestthings I did on The Real Housewives of

(20:56):
Atlanta was use that platform to educatewomen about fibroids. Wow, so what
happens if you don't just let themgo? Like, well, here's what's
interesting. It's very individual. Youmay have them and they may never bother
you. You may not even knowyou have them. Your sister could have
them and they could like torment herlike she is super super heavy periods like

(21:17):
one of the symptoms. Some ofthe symptoms. I'll just break down.
It's like I had super super heavyperiods. I was always I was either
getting on or getting off my cycle. I never could have white sheets,
I never could wear white pants becauseI was always like flooding, and you
know, it's like the blood,big blood clots coming out when you would
go to the bathroom. I wasanemic because of it for many many years.
I'm no longer a knemic. Mysex tribe was kind of low because

(21:41):
I was always tired, too tiredto have sex. In some situations,
depending on where the fibroid is,it's painful to have sex. It's a
lot, Yeah, it's a lot. And I think it's Black women.
We have this thing or we havethis expectation to just be able to suffer
through stuff like oh, well,you know, so what is you know
whatever? Like a lot of times, you know, jobs never looked at

(22:03):
it like, oh, this islike you really have an issue. Like
even if you like you can't callin, you used to not be able
to call in and say, oh, you know, I have fibroids and
I'm just having a heavy mistral cycle. They're looking at you like you better
put on a big pad and dowhat you got to do. But it's
we're learning so much more about fibroidsand and there's like people there, there

(22:27):
are people in place that are reallytrying to pass certain things through legislation to
really fight for women who are goingthrough this. Cause it's really like an
illness to be honest in a lotof ways. So you know, a
lot of things are happening with that. And I really am happy that I
actually talked about and on on theReal Housewives of Atlanta because it really did

(22:48):
get a lot of attention. That'sgreat, and a lot of women,
you know, decided to, youknow, go get themselves checked out and
do something about it. Because oneof the first things usually your doctor will
tell you if you even bring upfivebroidses, well, you need to get
a hysterectomy, and that is thatshould be your last resort always. So

(23:08):
that's why a lot of women enup with hysterectomies because they didn't know like,
oh, I could have done thisor I could have done that.
So I feel like it's important forme to continue to keep the conversation going
even though it's not personally affecting me. Sure, And it's funny because I
feel like, you know a lotof times the things that we go through,
and it's just to liberate other people, yeah right, and set them

(23:30):
phrase. So I love that you'reusing your journey and your story to help
other women just figure out what mightbe going on with them, because I
sometimes we'll just sit in the darkand we hope that things aren't happening.
And I always say, hope isnot a strategy, right, you should
really be going to the doctors absolutelygetting checked out. You know, culturally
for us, that's not always thenormal thing, right, Like we skip
going to the doctors, We don'tdo our annual visits, you know,

(23:52):
we don't go to the gynecologists likewe should. Right, We need to
normalize those things. So I'm gladthat you're advocating in that space. It's
so important. I love women.I love you know, women are like
I look up to other women,and I want to always try to operate
in an intentional space of being ableto support and give back to other women

(24:15):
because I really think, you know, my mindset is like I'm one person.
I just think we're so much strongertogether as like like a big group
of us than just one person,you know, trying to accomplish things or
get things done. So what isthe next wellness retreat? Well, we're
thinking about putting one together for Atlanta, definitely for twenty twenty four. We

(24:36):
want to take it to a tropicalisland somewhere. I would actually love to
go to Bali, but the flightis so long. I don't know if
because we would have to be there, like the retreat is only three days,
we would have to be there aweek because it just wouldn't be worth
it to go for three days.Yeah, So I don't know. I'm
looking at some other options, butI was really pleased with the way things
turned out, and I'm definitely Ifeel like this is my call to do

(25:00):
this. And I was like alwaysasking myself, like, you know,
there's something else that I feel likeI want to do. Like I know
I do a lot, but Iwas like, there's something that I want
to do that's going to help peopleand specifically women, and I need to
figure that out. And I waslike, you know what, this is
what I want to do. Iwant to keep women healthy. I want

(25:21):
to keep women supported, I wantto keep women inspired. I love that
so much. Do you feel likethe modeling, the acting, the motherhood
has like shaped your calling? Ohfor sure, that's my story. You
know, like one couldn't have happenedwithout the other. You know, when
I was eighteen years old, Igrew up in a small town in Alabama

(25:44):
called Tesscomby, Alabama. Had Inot gotten on that airplane at eighteen years
old to fly from Alabama to NewYork City to start to pursue my modeling
career, I don't think I everwould have ended up moving to Atlanta and
being like on a reality TV showbecause you know, one of the main
reasons they took me is because Iwas like Cynthia Bailey to models, you
know when they asked me to audition, so I already had I wasn't a

(26:07):
household name or famous, but Iwas definitely very very very well known in
the fashion industry and I worked withall the greats, so hugely successful.
So but yeah, so that hadto happen, and then you know,
I feel like, all right,I did that. I want I've always
wanted to be an actress as well, but it was just never the right

(26:30):
time, and it was like somethingthat I didn't want to do as like
a side job, Like I wantedto be able to completely commit because I
do respect the art of acting.I respect the craft. Noel's dead.
Leon is a very well He's athespian. He is a serious, serious
actor, and I've always watched hisprocess. I watched his process when he
played David Ruffin in The Temptations,and you know now, he never never

(26:53):
came out of character. He nevercame out of character until it was over,
till it rapped, Like he wouldcome home and he would still be
David Ruffins. I called him DavidRuffin until he was Tola said they have
wrapped the movie. He didn't respondto Leon. He'd respond anything only David
Ruffs. He tress like David Ruffinwhen we went out outside of him filming
the entire time. So I knowwhat it takes to be great as an

(27:17):
actor because I lived it and Iwas around it, and I want that
same respect. I want that sameI want to to grow to have that
kind of talent and that kind ofcommitment. And I think this is truly
my third act. And I thinkby the grace of God my will,
God's will be done. I willhave great success as an actress as well.

(27:38):
Amen. Amen, that's great.That's great. So anything coming up
that we can look forward to seeingyou in, Yes, absolutely, I
have some of the shows I can'ttalk about right now, but I'll be
posting about it, and when Ican't talk about it, I'll let you
know. But I have a show, a movie that just came out on
two be called Rock the Boat,and I played the mom of this really

(28:00):
talented actress McKenna. What's what's thename, Parker McKenna, park And McKenna.
She's my daughter. So that's great. I did a show for stars
that's coming out in twenty twenty fourthat's coming out. Actually, I just
did a movie with Noel. Thiswas the first time we worked together.

(28:21):
Noel is an actress as well.She's an actress, she's an influencer,
and she's also studying to be atherapist as well, which I will be
her first client for that because I'mdefinitely in therapy. But yeah, we
did a movie together called Different withMe and the crazy thing is like,
we're not We're in the same movie, but she's you know, doing something

(28:41):
differently than I am. We don'thave any scenes together, and it was
really cool to see her as anactress because I've always known that she had
a dinner to do it, butshe had to decide that that's what she
wanted to shore. I didn't wantto be like, oh, you should
do this, you're so good.But she does all my stuff. She
does all my self tape auditions withme, so I'm like, no,

(29:02):
you're so good at this, likeyou should just do it. So she
finally jumped out there, and I'mexcited for you guys to see her work.
She's incredibly talented. I'm looking forwardto that too. Yes, and
that's a nice time to share together. I know, like we had different
days and you know, different scenes, but I wouldn't with her. I
got a chance to go with forher. I was like her assistant the
day that she had, like youknow, she had like four days,

(29:25):
only had like two days or whatever. She had a bigger part than I
did. But you know, it'salways so nice as a mom to watch
your kids do things that they enjoydoing or just have a certain level of
happiness or peace. Like I alwayssay, like a happy day for Noel
is an amazing day for me.If Noel calls me right now, she's

(29:48):
like, Mom, I just don'tyou know, I'm just going through some
things, like immediately my day isdone, Like immediately, that takes down
all my energy because well, she'shappy and happy. Yeah, Like I'm
a happy person anyway. But whenNoel is happy, I am happy.
Yeah. And when she's not,I honestly am not because I want her

(30:10):
to be good, of course,I always want her to be good.
Yeah, And kids are just sucha big part of us, right,
even when they have grown, andit's like I still feel that, like
I still feel yes, you,and that's never going to go away.
No, it's never gonna go away. Yeah. And I think that's good
too, because I think even thoughlike my kids are fairly new in the
adultsy so my son is twenty fourand my daughter just turned eighteen, like

(30:30):
you still feel those things for them, you know, you discern things and
you're like, I'm your mama,I'm feeling this. Oh yeah, I
can tell. Yeah, I cantell when something's wrong. I'll call and
be like, hey, you good, m hm, and she's like I'm
good. I'm like, m what'swrong, yeah, and then she'll tell
me. But you can, likeyou said, you can definitely feel it.
Even when the phone rings and Ihave just a regular ring tone for

(30:53):
everybody to calls, and I'm like, that's no all calling. I literally
can sense when she is ringing thisphone like this's in a while and I'm
looking it's it's yeah, it's thatinnate thing we have as mothers. Yeah,
which never goes away. No.Yeah, And it's a wonderful gift
from God. I feel like,oh it really, it's like I have
a you know I have because she'sshe lives in LA and I'm between La

(31:15):
and Lake Bailey, which is inAtlanta. I love that you have a
lake. By the way, that'sjust well, I live on a lake.
Okay, of course, you know. I had to just be extra
and I just call it. Ijust call it Lake Bailey. You know.
My neighbors are like, it's notyour lake. I'm like, okay,
the part behind my house, that'smy property. That part is my
lake. So but what was Igonna say? I lost my train,

(31:37):
I'm sorry, and I oh betweenshe's she's in LA. I'm between Atlanta
and LA, and oh I wasn'tgonna say, was I. She's twenty
three, but I have a trackeron her. Not because I care about

(31:57):
what she's doing. For me,it's the peace of mind knowing that whatever
she's doing, she's made it theresafely and she made it back. Yeah.
How did you talk her into that? Because I'm still trying to talk
and I into that she's not withit. I have the three sixty it's
called it three sixty tracker. Ijust basically said, Noel, like,
I'm not trying to control or beinvolved in whatever you're doing. You're grown.

(32:19):
I completely trust you, but youare living alone in LA by yourself,
in your house, and I justneed from my peace of mind so
I can get some sleep. Ifyou do decide to go to dinner,
I just need to be able tolook on my phone and see that you
made it back. Yeah. Idon't have to call you. I don't
care who you went to dinner with. I don't care what you ate for

(32:39):
dinner. I just want to makesure you made it safely from point A
to point B. That's just formy mental so I can get some sleep.
And she was like okay, andshe's like, what can I put
one on you. I was like, absolutely, if you want to track
my little boring life, well it'snot actually that boring these days, but
yeah, I'm just kidding. Yeah, yeah, that's good. Right now

(33:01):
we have fined my iPhone. That'sall I have is a little that's what
we end it. So I'm tryingto work my way to the three sixty
things. But yeah, it's justa good piece of mind. Yeah.
They don't get it though, Wellyour daughter up. You just have to
explain to them that it's not aboutlike trying to figure out where they are
you walk them. No, it'sjust I need to like you're just like
hey, okay instead of call I'mlike hey, because before I did the
tracker, like hey, did youmake it? Why are you comment like,

(33:22):
you know, let me know thatyou made it there? Well,
are you driving okay? Are youon the way home? Okay, calm
me when you get home. Andno, I don't have to do that.
That takes all of that out ofthe equation. And I just took
them and be like, oh,she's home. Up, she's up our
little car driving. It was like, oh, she's on the way home,
she's headed toward the house. Youknow worth every penny. I'm sure,
yeah, yeah, So listen,thank you for coming here today.

(33:42):
I appreciate you. You have abeautiful story, you know. I love
what you're doing for women of colorin the space and just the example that
you're setting. Thank you. Wecan make it and we can be well.
Yes, we can, you know, and that's the most important thing.
And we don't have to like haveit all figured out right, but
we can make it and we canbe well. So thank you for being
like a wonderful example of that,because that's inspiring. And I hope all

(34:07):
the women that are listening to thisplatform, you know, particularly moms right,
will take some gems away from thisconversation that our life changing because I
know that this has helped me somuch just sitting here listening to you,
and it's been inspiring. So thankyou for you and you have inspired me
as well. And I also wantto just enclose and encourage women to don't

(34:27):
just wait for special days to celebrateyourself, like every day life is a
celebration. And that's one of thethings that I realized at fifty six years
old. I don't wait for mybirthday and for different things to celebrate.
I celebrate every single day and youhave a special thing to celebrate too,
And I have a good reason tocelebrate. I actually most of the ladies
probably are familiar with my Seagrums xKates partnership that I have. I created

(34:52):
my own signature cocktail, the PeachBallini, which we actually showed on the
Real Housewives of Atlanta. And Ijust launched my second flavor, which is
the Bear Mimosa. So it's availableto wherever Seagrum's Escapes is sold. And
if you go on to Instagram Seagrumsix Scapes, they have so many great
fun recipes. If you guys arehaving a girl's night, it's like a
fun way. We have so manyfun recipes to like incorporate super cute cocktails

(35:15):
and stuff. And I'm just reallybig on like working hard and also celebrating
the fruits of my labor. Yeah, and your accomplishment. So congratulations on
that. Thank you. Yeah.And you're going to be out at the
iHeartRadio Music Festival I am. I'llbe there in Vegas this weekend with Seagrums
Escapes promoting you know, the newflavor, the Beerry Mimosa. Well that's

(35:36):
going to be a fun time.Yeah, it is, it is.
And uh, you know life,life is good. Life is good.
Life is good. Life is good. You know. I you know,
I'm a big believer in praying andmanifestation and doing the work because once you
ask for it, once you manifestit, when you get it, then

(35:58):
you actually have to step up anddo the work. You have to make
it happen. So I just sayto all of your listeners, you know
you control you, You and God. At fifty six years old, I
decided that I was going to startmy career over. I decided I was
going to start over my personal life. And a lot of women, of

(36:22):
people, a lot of women arejust people, you know, kind of
live in a place of fear.They feel like, oh my god,
I can't quit, leave my jobor go into a whole nother career at
fifty six because people feel like thefifties is old. But I'm here to
tell you it definitely gets great laterand my best days, my last days

(36:43):
will definitely be my last And Iwill definitely say that it definitely gets great
later and my last days will bemy best days. One and when you
look at life like, okay,if I'm fifty six. Let's break that
down into summers. What is thatmaybe twenty five summers life. Mmmm,
Then that's when you really get tolive in because you're like, wait a

(37:04):
minute, that way, I gota lot of living to do. I
got a lot of celebrating to do. And it just takes that fear out
of the equation because you don't havetime to be scared. No, you
don't have time. You just gotto go for it. And I think
the saddest thing in the world isto look back in your life with regrets
and regret not you know, doingthe things that you wanted to do,
Regret not going for certain things,or being in something that you know you

(37:29):
were no longer spiritually and mentally andphysically aligned with anymore. You know,
just not fully believing in yourself towalk in your purpose and towards your purpose.
I think that's I think that's thatwould be very sad for me to
look back on my life and feellike I didn't just literally people's people literally

(37:49):
literally literally people say they want tolive their best life. When I tell
you I'm living my best life,I'm living my best life. I'm not
just saying it. I am livingit I could feel. I want to
continue to be that inspiration, especiallyto other women, that hey, look
at me, I'm still going,I'm still standing, and I look and

(38:10):
feel better than ever and I'm happyand i have my peace and I'm walking
to my purpose and I'm not afraid. That's what i want to represent to
other women. That's so good.Well, let me tell you something,
Miss Cynthia and Bailey. Yes,you are just as beautiful on the inside
as you are on the outside.Thank you, and I appreciate you coming

(38:30):
here today and being so real andtransparent because like these conversations need to be
normalized, yes right, and theyneed to happen all the time, yes
right, so that we can allbe in a good space. So thank
you again for you being here today. You're welcome. Thank you for having
me. Yes, so you arelistening to me Turnal on iHeartRadio. I
am Kenya Gibson sitting here with thelovely Miss Cynthia Bailey. Thank you for

(38:53):
coming today. God blessed, Thankyou, God bless you too. Thank
you for listening to me. TurnalStation will help mothers of color learn about
the complexities of fibroid health and howit impacts the black community. Moms will
also learn ways to create balance andput their wellness and health at the forefront.
For more information on how iHeartRadio issupporting mothers of color, visit meternal

(39:16):
dot info.