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Anna Faris has candidly reflected on becoming a stepmother to husband Michael Barrett's children.
The 47-year-old actress spoke about her family during an interview with Todayposted on July 15. While Faris has an 11-year-old son, Jack, whom she shares with ex-husband Chris Pratt, she is also stepmother to Barrett’s 20-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son from a previous relationship. According to Faris, she didn’t find it easy to bond with her stepchildren at first.
“When I first came into their lives, I had no idea how to relate to them,” he said in Todayafter noting that her husband's oldest son is a student at Georgetown University. “I remember her trying to be very calm, like playing loud music when I went to pick up my stepdaughter. Of course she was mortified.”
He added: “That is an example of how I managed to get through that position.”
TV host Hoda Kotb shared that when her friend became a stepmother, she waited for her stepchildren to feel comfortable with her in their free time. In response, Faris said that was a good approach, before acknowledging that she is now much closer to her husband's children.
“That's very good advice because I finally achieved it. [the same thing]“It’s an uphill battle,” he said.
He Mother The star had previously opened up about the initial challenges of forming a relationship with her stepchildren, after marrying Barrett in 2021. During an interview with People In 2022, she confessed that at first she felt “very immature” around her stepchildren, as she “wanted to be a girl like them” and even wondered why they didn’t like her.
However, she said she ultimately knew why they didn’t necessarily feel comfortable with her at the time. “I don’t think I gave them a lot of reasons to cultivate a trusting relationship,” she explained. “Because I also think that, when you’re an actor, your interactions are different than you have with most people.”
She further explained how she learned that her relationship with her stepchildren could not be like the one she had with other people in her life.
“Most people, even if they don’t care about you, are very nice to you, which of course inflates your ego or whatever, and you don’t tend to have a lot of rude or normal interactions,” Faris added. “And I think I didn’t respect the idea that I have a completely different relationship with them.”
Regarding her bond with her stepchildren at the time, Faris said she had “this special place” in their lives where she could simply “be supportive.”
In addition to raising her son alongside her husband, she also raises her son with Pratt, to whom she was married from 2009 to 2018. After Pratt married Katherine Schwarzenegger in 2018, they had two daughters: Lyla, three, and Eloise, two. They are now also expecting their third child.
Faris has continued to praise the friendship she has with Pratt, as she told him People in 2022 he is “getting closer” to him and Schwarzenegger, and that he is “happy with how things turned out.”
“They are very protective of me and I want to protect them too. I really appreciate their support,” she said. “Now that time has passed, everything is much easier. I feel very good about not living with that internal mess of unpleasant things.”
She also called Schwarzenegger “amazing” and praised the writer’s relationship with her son, adding: “She’s on top of everything. I love the way she is with Jack.”
During a recent backstage interview withTodayFaris spoke about her parenting style, revealing that it is “the opposite” of “any idea of helicopter parenting.” However, she acknowledged that there are certain boundaries she sets for her son.
“I said, ‘Listen, I’m really scared that you’re one of those kids who’s stupid enough to jump off a cliff. ’ He’s not scared of a lot of things. He doesn’t have any fears. He doesn’t get flustered easily in that way. So I’m scared that he’s a little reckless,” she said, though she noted that she gives him instructions on things she doesn’t want him to do.
