Emmestyle

Lessons from Mom

In excerpts from I Love You,Mom! A Celebration of Our Mothers and Their Gifts to Us, celebrities turn the spotlight on the lives and wisdom of their own mothers

EMME AND SALLY OWENS ENTWISTLE
As a little girl, I would often play in my mother's closet. I was mesmerized by her room and all the exotic things in it. I loved the smell of her perfume, Joy by Jean Patou. She used to entertain barefoot—she always painted her toenails red and she had the most beautiful, tanned toes. I do the same thing now, but my feet aren't nearly as pretty. She had beautiful clothes that were comfortable and easy but always very refined and kind of sexy.

My mother [pictured in '68] died when I was 16. She was diagnosed with this horrendous form of cancer that probably originated as breast cancer and spread throughout her entire body. I have made a very big commitment to speak out about body image and diversity because my mom had gone through so many diets and spent so much of her life battling her body. I wish I had my mom here so I could talk to her about all the things I'm going through now. [My daughter] Toby looks like my mother's mother. Sometimes I look at her and think, "Wouldn't it be a blessing if my mom could see her." I sometimes smell my mother's perfume in Toby's room. Then I get the sense that she's there. I know in my heart she's right next to me, and because she loved me so much, she's never too far away.

SOLEDAD AND ESTELA O'BRIEN
My parents got married [in Washington, D.C.] in 1958 when interracial marriages were illegal [in Maryland, where they lived]. My dad is and my mother is black. They weren't people who wanted to flout law—they just felt if they wanted to get married, they would. My Estela, told me that on [their] first date, they went to a restaurant couldn't get served because they wouldn't serve a black woman white man together. She doesn't tell those stories with indignation—more like that's just the way it was, so we worked around it.

I have three sisters and two brothers. I look back now and think, how did this woman have six children in seven years? My mom is always has been a disciplinarian. She may have gone overboard strictness department-maybe that's just what you have to do to sheer chaos when you have six kids-but she did such a great job making us feel loved. [She] recognized it's the time you spend with your children, not what you can buy for them, that's important. That's something my husband and I are trying to emulate with our children.

I have memories of my family doing everything together, including traveling. My mother also showed me how important a really strong marriage is. We just celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary.

DAISYAND MARIA FUENTES
My mother is a breast cancer survivor. We went through her illness about 15 years ago. She was only 40 but she caught it very early. I think the experience scared the life into her. It made her think she had to enjoy life now. When I think of my mom, I think of someone who loves to dance, who likes to be with friends, who loves to travel I travel a lot for my job and now she sometimes comes along. One of our favorite trips was to Monte Carlo for the World Music Awards. It was like having a girlfriend with me. I forgot she was my mom half the time.

Excerpted from I Love You Mom! A Celebration of Our Mothers and Their Gifts to Us. Foreward by Kelly Ripa. Edited by Diane Clehane. Copyright © 2003 by My Poppy, Inc. Published by Hyperion