Danielle Brooks admits she has turned into the kind of parent she once found annoying.
While promoting If I Go Will They Miss Me, the actress was asked what her own parents did that drove her crazy growing up but that she now finds herself doing with her 6-year-old daughter, Freeya.
“Helicopter mom,” Brooks answered in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar.
The actress said she did not fully understand why her own mother was so protective, but motherhood changed her perspective.
“I did not understand it at first. I was annoyed, right? But now I’m a helicopter mom, and I don’t care, because at the end of the day, my safety was my mom’s number one priority, and I was safe,” Brooks said. “I was annoyed, but I was safe.”
Brooks said that feeling of security is something she now wants to give her own daughter.
“One of the best things and gifts you can give a child is safety and love,” she said.
And when Brooks says she keeps an eye on Freeya, she means it.
“I’m watching you, Freya. I’m watching you, girl. I’m watching you play with your friends. I’m watching what you eat. I’m watching you when you sleep,” she joked. “I’m keeping you safe until you’re 21.”
That protective instinct also helped Brooks connect with her role in If I Go Will They Miss Me, in which she plays Lozita, the mother of a young boy named Lil Ant.
“I relate to Lozita because I’m a mother and I’m a wife. I know what it’s like to be protective of your babies,” Brooks said.
The role also made her think more deeply about the responsibility adults have toward children, even when those children are not their own.
“What pushes my heartstrings the most is that even if it’s not my baby, we have to protect our children. And we do that by example,” she said. “That’s been the biggest lesson for me.”
She has also learned that even loving, attentive parents can make mistakes.
“I’m a great parent, but even the best parents can fall short. It’s life, and so it’s a reminder to live the life you want your kids to live.”
She continued, “When you’re gone from this world and you’re washed away, what will they really remember about you?”
