"Actress and mom of two Alyssa Milano — beloved for her roles in Who’s the Boss?, Charmed, and Mistresses — is an advocate for mothers. She has posted photos of herself breastfeeding on social media, complained about the struggle to lose the baby weight, and vented about the obstacles to pumping, as when officials at Heathrow Airport made her dump out her breast milk. The fashion designer, who hosts Project Runway All-Stars and has her own Touch by Alyssa Milano line of women’s fan gear, spoke to Yahoo Parenting in May about the joys and struggles of motherhood. We caught up with her again to discuss baby weight, sleep training, and the pleasures of having two kids.
Recently, you tweeted about the difficulty of losing the last of your baby weight, noting, “This last 10-15 pounds of baby weight is a BITCH.” I think most moms can relate to that struggle. How do you handle the frustration?
I’m trying not to worry about it too much. Obviously those pounds are put on for a very important reason — that’s my sweet babies. I’m trying to look at it as building my endurance back up so I can work a full day and not be exhausted. I’m still breastfeeding, and it takes a lot of energy to make all that milk. So I know it’s about maintaining and being healthy so I can get through the day without taking a nap.
What do you say to other moms going through a similar struggle?
The only advice I could ever give another mom, in any area, is be kind to yourself. You’re not always going to have perfect days—it’s hard work. You have to be kind.
Father’s Day is right around the corner. Do you have anything planned?
I’ve gotta get on it. I haven’t even given it an ounce of thought yet!
Is your husband a very involved dad? Splitting the parenting duties can be so hard.
He’s very, very involved. It’s a true partnership — I feel like he would breastfeed if he could.
Does he split nighttime duties with you, too? Or is that harder since you are still nursing?
Actually, Elizabella [now 9 months old] has slept through the night since she was 6 weeks old, so we don’t really have nighttime duties.
Six weeks old! What’s your secret?
She’s just a baby — there’s no secret. I put her down at 7:30 and she sleeps until 6:30. But my son still gets up in the night. I enjoy that he comes into bed with us. I know that that’s not going to be around much longer.
Sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old, you’ll be the envy of every new mom. But there’s no magic formula — just luck?
I think instincts are the magic formula. My personal opinion is that people have created the concept that a baby has to sleep through the night to make money. It’s a business. I don’t sleep through the night — I toss and turn and get up to go to the bathroom — so to expect our babies to do it, and try to train them to do it? I think it’s part of our business mentality of trying to make money off of people’s weaknesses. We need to rely on instinct. I don’t think any mom’s natural instinct is to let a baby cry.
How does Milo like being a big brother?
He is so in love with his sister, it’s crazy. I’m convinced I’m going to walk into her room one day and he will be lifting her out of her crib. It’s everything you hope for when you have a second child — to give that first child a friend for life and provide all those super-rewarding aspects of having two. I was a little worried. A lot of my friends had second kids and had all that sibling rivalry. But Milo [who is 3 years old] takes it very seriously. His bedtime is after hers, and every night he looks in on her, saying, “I’m going to check on my sister.” It’s the sweetest. "
"1. Alyssa Milano left “Mistresses.” In October 2014, Milano announced the shocking news that she was leaving the series. The 42-year-old actress addressed her heartbroken fans on Twitter, explaining why she was bidding the drama bon voyage.
“After two wonderful seasons in Los Angeles, the studio has decided to shoot Season 3 of 'Mistresses' in Vancouver, Canada, for financial reasons,” the actress explained. “It’s with a heavy heart that I have decided I can’t relocate.”
2. Why did Alyssa Milano quit? Milano elaborated that her decision was based solely on her family.
“I have two babies under 4. Being a mother and a wife comes first, and I just cannot uproot my children and separate the family by moving away,” she stated. Milano and husband David Bugilari have two children, son Milo (born in 2011) and daughter Elizabella (2014). “I will miss this job desperately and wish everyone the absolute best,” she concluded.
3. How will Season 3 address Savi’s departure? When viewers last saw Savi, she was walking toward the beach, moments away from witnessing her sister Joss (Jes Macallan) locking lips with her ex-husband Harry (Brett Tucker). This left fans scratching their heads as to how that storyline would be addressed in the new season.
Well, according to the “Mistresses” showrunner, Rina Mimoun, Milano’s character will be a sizable part of the premiere -- even though she won't be physically present.
“I can’t speak too specifically about the Savi of it all, except to say that she is very much a part of our premiere,” Mimoun confirmed during an interview with TVLine.
4. Savi will play a large part in the premiere episode. The EP went on to explain to TV Guide that “the ripple effects of her actions [are] what the first two hours are really about.” Fans will watch as they learn how Savi’s decisions affect all of our favorite characters, -- “mostly Joss, but also Karen [Yunjin Kim].”
“It's kind of the point of the first two hours,” Mimoun added. “So for everyone who was worried we would run away from the Savi of it all, we're definitely not. She's part of our show and part of our fabric."
5. Alyssa Milano’s absence frightened her co-stars. With Savi out of the picture, Milano’s “Mistresses” co-stars feared that the storyline would be dramatically tampered with to keep the plot fluid.
“We really thought there was going to have to be a time jump,” Macallan told TVLine in January. “But they figured that out. Why skip away from [the drama of the Season 2 finale] and be like, ‘Here are our characters six months later'? It’d feel like a disservice. Everyone had big news coming in. Karen’s on the phone with the doctor, April’s got her daughter watching the TV [learning that] her dad was alive and now dead. Let’s go back to those moments. And that’s what we’re going to do. I’m excited."
6. Will Alyssa Milano return to “Mistresses”? Although Milano has yet to comment on whether she’d return to the hit ABC series, executive producer K.J. Steinberg told TV Guide they’d welcome her with open arms if she did decide to reprise her role.
“The door is always open!” she stated.
7. Alyssa Milano’s replacement revealed: In February, it was revealed that a new mistress would be added to the mix following Milano’s exit. “Blue Blood” actress Jennifer Esposito will take Milano’s place on the series as Calista, an “uber-fabulous” character with a devious side.
“Mistresses” will air its Season 3 premiere on Thursday, June 18, at 9 p.m. EDT on ABC."
"Lifetime is taking another step on the catwalk with another “Project Runway” spinoff — this time, with teenage contestants. The cabler has greenlit “Project Runway Junior,” which will debut this fall.
Lifetime has also renewed “Project Runway All Stars” for a fifth season, slated for early 2016.
“Project Runway Junior” will showcase the next generation of designers with contestants ages 14 to 17 competing. The new series will be co-hosted by Tim Gunn and supermodel Hannah Davis (pictured below) with judges Christian Siriano, who famously won season four of the flagship “Project Runway,” and Aya Kanai, exec fashion editor of Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazine. The new series, which comes after “Runway” host Heidi Klum has expressed interest in a younger version of the show, thanks to her own children, will film this summer in New York.
“Junior” hails from the Weinstein Company, Sara Rea Productions and Full Picture; Bob and Harvey Weinstein are exec producing with Patrick Reardon, Barbara Schneeweiss, Sara Rea, Jane Cha, Desiree Gruber, Eli Lehrer, Mary Donahue, David Hillman and Gunn.
“Project Runway All Stars,” produced by the Weinstein Company and Bunim/Murray Productions, has been renewed for season five, set to debut early next year. Alyssa Milano will return as host with judges Isaac Mizrahi, Georgina Chapman and mentor Zanna Roberts Rassi, senior fashion editor of Marie Claire. Harvey and Bob Weinstein are exec producers with Reardon, Schneeweiss, Lehrer, Donahue, Hillman, Jonathan Murray, Gil Goldschein and Rob Bagshaw.
Flagship series “Project Runway” will premiere season 14 on Aug. 6 with Klum, Gunn, Nina Garcia and Zac Posen all returning."
"The women of Mistresses might spend more time in church pews than they do between the sheets during the ABC sudser’s two-hour Season 3 premiere (tonight, 9/8c on ABC), but fret not: Nobody’s shopping for purity rings anytime soon.
The chaste kickoff episode was a bit of a risk, says showrunner Rina Mimoun, “but I trusted our audience would know that our ladies can only swear off men for so long. We’ve got a lot of abs, and we’ve got to show them. Eventually clothes will have to come off.”
Not that fornication and supplication are mutually exclusive, of course. “Church became a really interesting part of the discussion in the writer’s room this year, but we had to find a balance because we didn’t want to suddenly pretend we were a totally different show,” says fellow showrunner K.J. Steinberg. “Still, it felt like everything Karen went through, the fact that she’s looking to something greater and searching for a deeper meaning, naturally led us to religion. It became a really nice place to juxtapose what’s going on in her private life.”
“Two Jewish gals running a show called Mistresses and we’re at church all day long,” Steinberg adds with a hearty laugh. “I don’t know how that happened!”
TVLine caught up with Mimoun and Steinberg — who are currently writing the Season 3 finale — to discuss how they’re handling Alyssa Milano’s exit, the introduction of Blue Bloods‘ Jennifer Esposito and the fallout of the Joss-Harry Verboten Beach Makeout Session of 2014. “This is the time of year where K.J. and I are like, ‘Boy I hope you like it because it’s in the can,'” teases Mimoun. “We can’t change it now!”"
"As we all know by now, Alyssa Milano left the cast of Mistresses before production began on Season 3. How exactly will the show explain her character Savi's absence?
"Alyssa Milano may not be part of our premiere, but the character of Savi is very much a part of the premiere," executive producer Rina Mimoun tells us. "The ripple effects of her actions [are] what the first two hours are really about and how it affects all of our women, mostly Joss [Jes Macallan], but also Karen [Yunjin Kim]. It's kind of the point of the first two hours. So for everyone who was worried we would run away from the Savi of it all, we're definitely not. She's part of our show and part of our fabric."
So does this mean that she could return? "The door is always open!" says executive producer K.J. Steinberg."
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