"I can't look after a baby!" - Jennifer Love Hewitt on motherhood

Ghost Whisperer star Jennifer Love Hewitt has opened up about something many parents can relate to – the sheer terror of being allowed to go home with your new baby.

“Those first couple of nights, it was wild,” said the actress, who is married to Brian Hallisay, her co-star in The Client List.

“When they let us bring her home I said to [Brian], ‘To get your licence you have to take a test. They check to make sure you’re a good human being to get behind the wheel of a car. They’ve given us no test! We just had a baby and now we’re going home.’ He was like, ‘I know, it’s terrifying!’”

But daughter Autumn James, 4 months old, has settled in to life with her now very capable parents.

Her husband is “fantastic. He’s great at diaper changing and at the football hold, which she loves,” said Jennifer. “It’s really 50-50. I feel very lucky that way! I do the stuff that I need to do as a mom and he does the dad part.”

Like most celebrities who have given birth, the actress has found the focus soon goes to losing her baby weight – especially given the taunting about her body after some unflattering photos were published in 2007.

“Having been somebody who has had to think about what my body looked like for 25 years, it was hard when it didn’t come off. I didn’t look like some of the girls in the magazines that I’ve worked with … who [the weight] does fall off for,” she says.

“I was like, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ I had to have a conversation with myself. I had to look at her and think, ‘Would I want her to feel this way when she’s my age?’ I was like, ‘Get it together – your head’s in the wrong place.’

“It took nine months to get it this way, it might take nine months to get it back. If I have an hour to go to the gym or an hour to lie down and take a nap with her in my arms, I’m going to lie down and take a nap.”

A bit of swimming and Zumba are now being introduced, and “I hold her, we do squats, we dance, she listens to the music and she loves it. Or I put her in her little chair and she watches and thinks it’s really funny,” she shares.

“[Working out is] really jarring to your body. I don’t know how people go back and do CrossFit a week later. It’s just not me. I’m slowly getting back into it. I’m not that worried.”

Image of “Jennifer Love Hewitt” from Shutterstock

117 Comments

- - Flackstar said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    1:42 pm
Its very scary to bring any baby home! I love reading stories about JLH. She seems genuine and open.

- - damish70 said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    1:40 pm
We think their lives are all glitz & glamour.. Even celebrity mums struggle with motherhood.

- - sweetbell said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    12:38 pm
Yes it is very scary when you first come pregnant and think about all the sleepless night’s, the teething and them getting sick etc but I’ve had 3 children and wouldn’t change it for the world. Once you hold your baby it takes your breath away it’s pricless♡♡

- - sisterhood27 said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    12:35 pm
It is scary to bring your first baby home you do know what to expect and those sleepless nights but it’s really worth it

- - kabes20 said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    12:29 pm
I was the same with my first too, its normal to feel this way!

- - beksmum said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    12:23 pm
I remember being terrified when we took home our first baby, I was lucky enough to have mum who could reassure me that things were normal! We didn’t even know how to change a nappy!

- - tammykilby said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    11:50 am
Great read remember being so excited to bring my first home none of this crossed my mind, sn I just lost my baby weight by breast feeding an walking, it took a while but didn’t bother me that much

- - della said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    11:34 am
great to hear slow and steady wins the race from a celebrity who is actually taking time to enjoy motherhood and not racing off to the gym
- mggarner replied
  
  14 Apr 2014 , 12:00 pm
  I know this is rare
- - taylorjane92 said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    11:15 am
Its great how honest she is, Alot of celebrities would be worried about the criticism from the media, but she is honest and relatable! I really wish there wasnt so much pressure on new mothers to lose all the baby weight, I know I lost it quickly, but behind closed doors it was because I couldnt afford to eat properly leading up to and after having my daughter. I was left alone to pay massive rent and my full time wages just covered that and baby supplies. I was hated alot by other mothers because i quickly shed the kgs 🙁

- - unicorn16 said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    10:57 am
She is always so open and honest about the everyday things that affect so many of us. It is nice to know that those magazine perfect celebrities suffer the same problems and insecurities.

- - joburkey said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    10:10 am
I love that she is so real and admits to being so normal. Post-pregnancy it is very hard but it is something you get used to. Took me over 9 months to get in shape but even then your body is never the same. It does now mean sacrifices to stay fit now, My hubby wakes up at 5:30 to go to the gym, then I go at 6:15. Toddler is now up between 6:30 and 7am. We work together to get fit and healthy together and work around the little one.

- - cheezel said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    9:57 am
Those first few nights after leaving the hospital are so testing and nerve racking!

- - kathryn said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    9:40 am
Love how she would also take the option of a nap 🙂

- - coppin85 said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    9:14 am
i loved reading this, Jennifer sounds so down to earth and real!

- - shazzbot said
  - 14 Apr 2014
    8:07 am
I still remember the first few nights at home with our first new born, we just sat on the coach looking at him saying wow we have a son. It certainly took a couple of weeks to get use to, but it was great. Good luck to them. Thanks for sharing this, I enjoyed reading it.