ABBOTT ELEMENTARY’s Sheryl Lee Ralph Calls Kids ‘My Best Legacy’
By Movieguide® Contributor
ABBOTT ELEMENTARY actress and Christ-follower Sheryl Lee Ralph is proud of how she raised her two children.
“My children are part of my best legacy,” she said in a Self article from Mar. 21. “You know, in some places in Africa, they don’t ask you how you are. They ask you, ‘How are your children?”
“They always say, ‘Children keep you young.’ If you’re open to it, they absolutely do,” she said about son Etienne, 31, and daughter Coco, 28.
The proud mom is impressed with the life they’ve made for themselves, their generosity and independent attitudes.
“I’m floored by the way they’re just living their lives to their fullness — and in a way that’s not just for them, but they’re helping others. So it says to me, ‘Wow, they’re paying attention,’” the 67-year-old said.
The star previously told PEOPLE, “I’m so proud of them. They’re not looking at me to help them do this or that. They’re not using nepotism. They’re not coming to me saying, ‘Can you call this? Can you do that?’ They’re doing it themselves, and I just respect them so much for that.”
Coco recently began helping Ralph with her red carpet looks, which became a permanent arrangement.
“It started as something we were going to do just a few times. But every time I had to hit the red carpet, she just kept getting better and better at it. So, now we work together,” she said.
“I am very happy she is so good at making these connections and giving other people their shots on the red carpet,” Ralph said.
Ralph shared photos of herself and Coco last December and said, “The best Christmas present a mother could have ever received! Happy Birthday to my beautiful, kind, smart, loving daughter who continues to make me proud and look good on all my red carpets! 20 fine @ivycoco23!”
Movieguide® previously reported that Ralph credited her kids for her Critics Choice Award win, saying God led her to her movie debut role in A PIECE OF THE ACTION. Movieguide® also reported that the actress studies the Bible to know how to love others:
“If you get confused when you’re reading your Bible, stop and go back and read the red parts,” she said. “The red parts for those who might not know are the things that Jesus himself…was said to have really said.”
She continued, “And you cannot find anything in those words that say ‘hate these people because they have been hated on before, ignore those people because they have always been ignored.’ It says nothing like that.”