Selma Blair has an important message for single moms—you don’t have to do this alone

Ask any single mom, and she’ll probably tell you that parenting a child on your own is like walking a tightrope. You’re alone, inching along a thin cable slowly, trying to balance all of these different responsibilities without losing your footing. But sometimes you do slip and struggle to regain your balance for years—an honest truth about single motherhood that actor Selma Blair shared in a recent interview with US Weekly.

Blair split from her partner of two years, fashion designer Jason Bleick, in 2012 and was left to raise their then-14-month-old son, Arthur, by herself. The intervening years were rough because she didn’t “have a support system,” the 45-year-old American Crime Story star told US Weekly at the Alliance of Moms’ Raising Baby event in Los Angeles. “I was an older, tired, single mom.”

She added, “As much as I loved my child, I was really lost . . . lost for for, like, four-and-a-half years. I kind of hit rock bottom.”

The Anger Management actor says that connecting with a community of mom friends helped her regain her confidence and sense-of-self.

Blair told US Weekly that, as a single mom, it brought her comfort to know she didn’t “have to do this alone,” adding, “I shut myself off from everyone, and it wasn’t until I accepted some help that I could just flourish as a mom.”

Research, of course, supports Blair’s experience. For example, a 2014 study published in Maternal and Child Health Journal found that support networks play a vital role in fulfilling a mama’s basic needs during the first six weeks after childbirth.

The same study found that social support within that postpartum period may also dampen—if not prevent—postpartum depression.

Not only that, but access to a positive support network during and after pregnancy has tremendous benefits for you and your newborn’s physical and emotional wellness.

Research published by the University of California Los Angeles found that moms who have social support can parent more effectively, and with less stress, leading to healthier and happier babies.

These days, Blair and Arthur are doing great. The Cruel Intentions actor told US Weekly last month that her 6-year-old son is close to Chloe, the 8-year-old daughter of her current beau, director Ron Carlson.

Blair said, “Arthur and Chloe are best friends … They build forts out of real tree stuff. And they love when we go camping. But more than anything, they really just love presents! They both equally love presents more than anyone I’ve ever met besides me!”

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