My mom taught me how to sew when I was 2 or 3, so I’ve been sewing for as long as I can remember.
Mom and Dad are truly my heroes. And I have to say, so is my little brother Robert. He’s 11, and he’s just the most amazing boy. He’s so much like Dad sometimes, it’s a bit scary.
My mom cooks traditional Albanian food for every holiday. She’s an amazing cook.
In the Dominican Republic, my mom and I lived in this little tiny town called Cabarete, which is very poor.
I just live life. I grew up in a Christian family, but, you know, the way Mom brought me up is to, you know, do you, to always be yourself.
My sister and I had a tough childhood, but my mom always said that travelling is the most beautiful thing you can do in your life. She always showed us the globe and gifted me an atlas.
My father was an ironworker who eventually co-founded a construction business. My mother, Jeanette, was a stay-at-home mom who had been an operating-room nurse until my older brother, Jimmy, was born.
I’ve gotten a lot of good advice from my parents. Probably the best advice I’ve ever gotten from my mom is ‘Let it go.’
Every year during Dhanteras, we buy jewellery either for me or my mom, from our jeweller. It’s been a ritual which we have been following for years.
Growing up in Terre Haute, Indiana, there’s not a whole lot to do. What I did was I just went to the basketball court at the Boys & Girls Club and literally stayed there all day until my mom got off of work.
For me, being tall was very positive because I thought my mom was the most beautiful person ever.
My mom, my aunt, and my grandma banded together and gave me a village of support when I was growing up.
I was home-schooled, was always very close with my mom and was very straight-laced and square. I was never the rebellious one, and I never threw hissy fits.
Growing up, it was just me and my mom, so we would play games where we’d listen to the radio and sing harmonies to each other.
None of my family are musicians, but there was a lot of classic rock and country going on. I always wanted to sing. As soon as I expressed an interest my mom was super supportive of me.
My mom and my dad were both very sociable, meeting lots of interesting people.
My dad’s white, my mom’s black, and I’ve struggled with being mixed race.
My dad’s a Jew, and my mom’s a WASP, so that should pretty much say it all. It was a comically dysfunctional family.
I learned a lot from my Mom. My favorite lesson: remember there is no such thing as a certain way to parent and to remember that you are learning along with your child – it’s ok to make mistakes.
I’ve had a lot of mother figures. But by the time my mom came into my life, it wasn’t a ‘mommy’ thing. It’s more of an adult relationship.
When Mom visits me in New York she hangs out with me and all my friends anyway. We go out to the gay bars together.
My mom, she wasn’t like a baseball mother who knew everything about the game. She just wanted me to be happy with what I was doing.
My dad and mom did what a lot of parents did at the time. They sacrificed a lot of their life and used a lot of their disposable income to make sure their children were educated.
I’m a human being, I’m a friend, I’m a mom, I’m a writer, and I’m an artist. I do play electric guitar and all of that, but in the end, I’m just a person.
I never thought about college, but my mom thought about it for me. I knew 100 percent it wasn’t for me.
