Kristen Bell Says She Doesn’t Feel the Mom Guilt Anymore

Kristen Bell is known for being an open book—she recently discussed the fact that she’s sick of the silence around depression, and has previously been transparent about marital obstacles. And the Bad Moms star is no different when it comes to motherhood. In an interview with Redbook for their August cover story, Bell talked about how she’s dealt with mom guilt.

Other celebrity mothers like Bad Moms co-star Mila Kunis have commented on the difficulty of balancing their work and family lives, and Bell said she’s finally let go of the pressure to do everything. “I don’t let myself feel guilty about not committing to things anymore,” Bell told Redbook. “How I position it in my head is that I have more of an obligation to my daughters than I do to anybody else.”

She also realized that she can’t always be her kind, friendly self at home. “Recently I’ve had an epiphany that if I’m as nice to my daughter as I want to be, she’s not going to respect me,” she said. “Giving your kids strong boundaries is good for them, because if you just let them do whatever they want, you raise a jerk.”

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In another interview with PopSugar, Bell commented on how frequently she hears people relate to the Bad Moms theme of imperfect parenting. “There are endless ways to do it. And however your gut is telling you to do it, that’s what’s right,” she said. “It’s a unifying message that we all feel less than; we all feel frazzled; we all feel overworked and terrified we’re messing up our humans. But that’s the beauty of this entire movie is it’s unifying. It’s like moms in solidarity.”

Read more of Bell’s conversation with Redbook here.