2:00

I mean technically he was already four but and much

2:02

like you two boys and a girl What

2:05

is what is the idea of having a daughter

2:07

after you're used to boys intimidating or yes, incredibly

2:10

intimidating I'm like, I feel like I'm completely

2:12

starting over in the case. No, you're going

2:14

the right way in my experience But

2:17

my little girl like when we had when I

2:19

had my first it did what it

2:21

does to every parent turns your world upside Down, you

2:23

don't know what you're doing when Sandra came along. I

2:25

was like, oh, this is why people sometimes say I

2:27

want ten You know like and then

2:29

we had Caleb and I think it was

2:32

God gave us a robust little boy that

2:34

just wrecked everything to say Don't be greedy.

2:36

You're done. You're done So

2:39

maybe he's God is inviting you to have more Boy

2:44

moms, yeah already for me like when I have

2:46

my daughters and they're a handful I mean, there's

2:48

a lot of talking and there's a lot of

2:50

the both musical theater kids are singing constantly It's

2:52

all of that But like when

2:54

I have boys over it I'm

2:57

in some stunned by the energy from boys I

2:59

mean, it's unbelievable like you know, they're destroying my

3:01

living room It's like my as their parents are

3:03

sitting on the couch like oh, this is normal.

3:05

I'm like, what is happening right now? Why are

3:07

they throwing things? What is going on? So

3:09

I mean there is a little bit I think girls are

3:11

harder in the teenage years. I guess that's what they

3:13

say You pay your taxes with boys early. Yeah, and then

3:16

you pay your taxes with girls later in life so but

3:18

I think when you have one girl, so I'm Third

3:21

so there are three girls and then a boy

3:23

and one thing I realize is that when you

3:25

get one girl I don't know if that nest

3:28

I'm praying that doesn't necessarily hold true because in

3:30

some ways I'm gonna be a

3:32

parent not her best friend But her ability

3:34

to turn to me in the family is

3:36

unique because you know I'm the one female

3:38

for her and the mom so I tend

3:40

to think it kind of maybe makes it

3:42

closer You could have a really communicative.

3:44

Oh, I sure hope so.

3:46

I'm so excited about that Oh,

3:48

I'm excited to potentially also have like a

3:51

child that isn't as active like we have

3:53

very very sweet boys My husband is is

3:56

you know an artist and he's a musician

3:58

and so like they're definitely I see

4:00

the sensitivity that they've inherited from him. But

4:02

they're still, you'll go to a music class

4:05

and you'll see all the little girls are

4:07

sitting on their mom's lap, paying attention, participating,

4:09

and the boys without fail are all off

4:11

wandering around in every given direction doing whatever

4:14

they're doing. I'm excited to have the girl

4:16

on my lap. I'm so excited for you

4:18

because there's also moments where we walk into

4:21

the house and we sit there. My husband's

4:23

like, look at her. She's

4:25

just playing by herself. She'll

4:28

sit there and the boys are launching

4:30

themselves off things. They have

4:32

to pick on each other or someone to get

4:34

attention. Sandra will do her own thing.

4:37

But I think being one of three as well, I'm

4:39

very much used to that dynamic. I was

4:41

the only girl. I was the middle child.

4:43

Oh, you're my, you're my Sandra. Okay. Yeah.

4:46

So I'm just like, I'm very, I

4:49

always thought in the back of my mind if

4:51

I should be so lucky that three will sort

4:53

of be the magic number. So I'm excited for

4:55

that energy. I know it. I want to ask

4:57

you a pregnancy because you talked about your fertility

4:59

journey, which I think is so important, whether

5:02

it's miscarriages or fertility or difficulties of

5:04

getting pregnant. I think the more we

5:06

all talk, the more we realize we're

5:08

not alone. Yeah. I had

5:11

some postpartum depression after my first

5:13

and my third. What

5:15

are some things you wish you

5:18

knew in your postpartum time that

5:21

you didn't expect maybe? That's

5:23

a really good question. I mean,

5:25

just how all encompassing it is,

5:28

like, and

5:30

I feel like every postpartum period obviously

5:33

is different. I do

5:35

knock on wood feel pretty lucky that maybe

5:37

it was the fact that

5:39

I had work kind of imminently.

5:42

Yeah. I went back to work with Gus

5:44

on This Is Us when he was a

5:47

month old. And granted, like, much

5:49

like your job, it's like, it's an ensemble.

5:51

It wasn't like the sole responsibility of

5:53

the work. The bulk of the work was just resting on my

5:56

shoulders. And we only had a few months left. And then we

5:58

had a bit of a hiatus for the next month. summer.

6:00

But then with Ozzy, I, I electively

6:03

chose to go back to work when he

6:05

was six weeks old. We moved the family.

6:07

Yeah, we moved the family here to New

6:09

York for a job and lived here for

6:11

five months. So I had like a six-week-old

6:13

newborn baby. And again, the privilege of a

6:15

job where you're able to bring your baby

6:17

with you. I know that is not the

6:19

case for most women in this country. And

6:22

so I was able to bring him there

6:24

and I could work and I could nurse

6:26

and I could work and nurse. And I

6:28

feel like for some reason, like maybe

6:30

the, the rhythm of getting back

6:33

into things so easy, so quickly

6:35

like helped ease me back into

6:37

feeling in my body and

6:39

my skin like again. And

6:41

it will be a different journey this, this

6:44

time. I'll have this baby and I

6:46

don't have work on the horizon in quite the same way.

6:48

So I'm curious to see like

6:50

if things will kind of feel a bit

6:52

different because of that. Well, I know everyone

6:54

feels differently, but I found my, it

6:56

was the most grounding when I went back to work. Yeah.

6:58

Even though like I had heard my whole life, oh, the

7:01

day you go back, call me cause you're going to cry.

7:03

And the day I went back after my first, I

7:05

was like, I felt guilty again.

7:07

Cause sure. Without talking about you don't realize

7:09

there are some people that agree with you,

7:11

but that was the first time I felt

7:13

normal. Like, Oh, I can do this. This

7:15

mother thing is so hard and overwhelming. Yeah.

7:17

And so foreign, but the job I know

7:19

how to do. So in some ways

7:21

I always felt better going back to work. But one

7:24

thing I also wanted to ask you, I'm always curious

7:26

is with our kids, we always

7:28

try to correct or fix things we

7:31

didn't like maybe growing up or want to

7:33

do differently than our parents. But there's also

7:35

like these fears of, for me,

7:37

it's like, what am I unknowingly

7:39

passing on to my kids? Cause there's going to be

7:41

stuff, but for me, it's a lot of like emotional

7:44

regulation, anxiety. Like what are your

7:46

fears as a parent in parenting?

7:48

Oh my gosh. So

7:51

many, like, and so many, I probably haven't

7:53

even realized yet. Cause you're just, I feel

7:55

like we're so in the thick of things

7:57

yet. Like, not that you ever probably.

8:00

I feel like you've come up for air,

8:02

but I certainly haven't felt that at this

8:04

joke. No, you haven't yet, and I get

8:06

that. Totally, so it's like, I don't even

8:08

know how to identify what those are. I

8:10

mean, we're starting

8:12

to ask ourselves some of the bigger,

8:14

more philosophical questions about the influences that

8:16

they're gonna have one day and making

8:19

sure that, yeah, they

8:21

feel loved and supported no matter what. I

8:24

have fear around, yes,

8:26

them presenting me because of work.

8:28

And my husband and us maybe

8:31

being away more than we should. It's

8:33

so, so much, I feel, wrapped up in all

8:35

of that. I don't know. One piece of advice being

8:38

a few more years down the road is get away

8:40

when you can. Someone once told me this, these are

8:42

the ages where they're not remembering all those things, yet

8:44

what it does for you when you take care of

8:46

yourself and your marriage and your husband, that

8:49

benefits them and they don't remember this. It's

8:51

much later, and someone said that and I

8:53

thought, oh, and that it is

8:56

so reaffirming to be able to get away

8:58

when you can. So do that. I

9:00

think it was me, I think I told you that. Oh, my, every wife

9:02

thing I've ever heard came from you. We

9:05

try to do that already. And also just to

9:07

piggyback on what I was saying, I mean, I

9:09

do love, though, modeling for my kids and I

9:11

wanna model for my daughter as well. I

9:14

love my job. I love what I do. It is

9:16

a huge part of my identity as

9:18

is being their mom. And

9:21

it fills my cup in a very, very

9:23

different way. And I want

9:25

them to see it's important to chase the

9:27

things that you're passionate about and not discard

9:29

that and not necessarily, I

9:32

want to be both things. I wanna move through the

9:34

world and oscillate between

9:37

being mom and being, in

9:39

this season of my life, work is a little quieter

9:41

and so it's like, I have been full on mom

9:43

for the last year and it's been the greatest gift.

9:46

I love it more than anything. But

9:48

I'm also excited about when this baby is here in

9:50

the world and I can get back to work because

9:52

I miss it and it's like, I do wanna fill

9:54

that part of my cup too because it's important. I

9:56

think for so, sorry, Brian, I'm not letting you get

9:59

in here. Jump in. with any of your

10:01

momming stories. No, I'm just kidding. It's funny,

10:03

because I think we also are always raised

10:05

to think for women it's a choice, because

10:07

it was in the past. So I get

10:09

why that's a dominant narrative, but funny enough,

10:12

we're dynamic individuals in the sense that I'm

10:14

nothing without either of those things. I always

10:16

know I have a North Star that

10:19

my family is the most important thing,

10:21

but I am actually not the same mom

10:23

if left, like my mom was for spells

10:26

at home all the time. And then when

10:28

I find myself screaming and stressing, I realize

10:30

I don't thrive the way some people do. And

10:33

it's almost like empowering your kids to know which

10:36

combination of things makes you

10:38

happy and your best self. Yeah,

10:41

and therefore the best parent, and the best

10:43

wife, and the best partner, and like all

10:45

of that. Absolutely, I already definitely recognize that.

10:49

We'll be right back after this. You're

10:53

a podcast listener, and this is

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now. That's L-I-B-S-Y-N ads.com. You're

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now. That's L-I-B-S-Y-N ads.com. when

16:00

people get fluffed, whether it's like

16:02

extreme athletes or celebrities, artists, they

16:05

feel a need to tap back into it

16:07

in a way that kind of, that's usually

16:09

the beginning of the destruction. So you weren't

16:12

walled off from your childhood. I wasn't walled off from

16:14

my childhood, but also maybe it's like, maybe

16:16

I was a little bit, I'm a little bit

16:18

of a control freak or something because like that,

16:20

like even now, I was saying on

16:22

a podcast a couple months ago, like I think I've

16:24

been like drunk maybe

16:27

twice in my life. I've never been hot,

16:29

never. I'm not at

16:31

it. I'm not. I'm sorry I'm drunk now. No

16:33

shade, no. But I think that

16:35

just falls on my shoulders of like, I

16:39

like to be in control. And so I

16:41

think that like happened when I

16:43

was a young person as well. I was like, nope,

16:45

I'm not gonna do anything that would potentially, you know,

16:48

put me in a situation I'm uncomfortable with. I do find

16:50

that's a difference between, this

16:52

is a broad strokes, little girls and little boys.

16:54

One thing I realized is they're also capable

16:56

of about four moves ahead in

16:58

the game. Boys are so immediate.

17:00

And so they can't always like

17:02

delay gratification. Yeah, I had trouble with that as a teen. And

17:05

I'm making generalizations whether they're teens were not

17:07

there yet. But my daughter can say, oh,

17:09

so if I don't eat this now, I'll

17:11

get it later. I'm gonna go ahead and

17:13

do that. There's a, there is a skill

17:15

there. Yeah. Well, this is a little

17:17

awkward, but Sarah, I understand you have some beef with

17:19

me. Oh gosh, maybe I have the biggest beef

17:21

with you. Okay, so circa 2000, no,

17:24

it's really innocent, but you went

17:27

brown, you're dark mocha hair. I want to say it

17:29

was like 2004 or five or

17:31

something. You debuted this beautiful hair. I

17:34

became so obsessed with your hair color. And

17:36

even though I have obviously highlights and stuff,

17:39

I'm a dirty blonde and I have been on my whole life.

17:42

I decided the day you debuted, I was like,

17:44

she's beautiful. She's never looked more stunning. I too,

17:46

I'm gonna have mocha brown hair. For

17:49

months I carried around a picture of you. And

17:51

this is me like as a grown adult, walking

17:53

around an office, but I happened to work in

17:55

TV. I wasn't on air, but I worked around

17:57

elite hairstylists and things, so I'd show them, I said,

17:59

what? and we printed off color codes with your

18:01

picture. I carried them around. Everyone was like, I know,

18:03

I heard the Mandy Moore story. So one day, and

18:05

this is not name dropping, I was at the Today

18:08

Show, but Katie Couric said to me, I was like,

18:10

I think I'm going mocha like Mandy Moore. Do you

18:12

wanna see my picture? I show her the picture. She's

18:14

like, Sarah, blonde, most people are trying to

18:17

look like blonde. If you lose your blonde,

18:19

you'll spend a lifetime coming back. That was

18:21

the day my Mandy Moore decision was over.

18:23

But forever, forever, everyone

18:26

at work was like, remember when you were going

18:28

Mandy Moore, mocha? And I'm like, yes, I

18:30

have a picture of you in a file

18:33

until I left to ABC in 2013. A

18:35

folder with, sorry, NBC to ABC, but

18:37

I had like a color chart and pictures

18:40

of you in a file. And it's like, I'm really

18:42

gonna miss her. I'm so flattered. But

18:44

also good choice, because Katie was right. I

18:46

really feel she might have been. You would

18:48

have spent a lifetime and a fortune to

18:50

get back to the gorgeous color. Yeah, I was

18:53

gonna say, I think you should have. No, I'm seeing her today,

18:55

and I'm like, she's mocha, no one warned me. She's

18:57

full of blonde. This is gonna be hard.

18:59

Second lady tomorrow. Oddly, a couple days earlier this week,

19:01

you had her hair from the candy video. So that was

19:03

a- Didn't you tease me about that, too? Yes, I

19:05

did. Yeah, that was your call back. Yeah. Because

19:08

I wasn't 15. All right, let's talk

19:10

about your podcast, because- Yes. So first

19:12

of all, this is us. People

19:15

love on a level that is

19:17

really just incredible. I mean, that

19:19

moves everyone different ages. It's,

19:22

I mean, everyone knows you just

19:24

cry through every season of that show. It's

19:26

starting. But it's also fun to watch, and

19:28

you guys, the chemistry you guys have is

19:30

unbelievable. And now you're back replicating that chemistry.

19:32

We are. With Sterling K. Brown and Chris

19:34

Sullivan for a rewatch podcast of the show

19:37

called, That Was Us, which is brilliant. You

19:40

said that not being with the cast every day when the

19:42

show ended in 2022 was hard for you. Did

19:44

you jump at the chance to do this? I did.

19:46

I mean, Chris approached Sterling, and then the two

19:48

of them approached me to be a part of

19:51

doing this. And we all love

19:53

each other. It's like, you know those

19:55

once-in-a-lifetime situations where a project is put

19:57

together, and you're like, oh, we have

19:59

solidified.