Angie Harmon is proud to be raising three daughters as a single mother.
In an interview with PEOPLE, the actress and director recounted her experience caring for daughters Finley, 20, Avery, 18, and Emery, 14, after her 2014 divorce.
“When it’s just you, there’s a different kind of survival skill set that takes over, you pay more attention to things that you wouldn’t normally,” Harmon, 51, tells PEOPLE. “You’re more aware of things you wouldn’t be.”
“You learn to be independent in a different way,” she continues. “There’s a toughness that comes with someone who constantly has to travel alone and protect three girls.”
The Law and order star, who lives outside Charlotte, North Carolina, says she is “realistic” about her role and “what my life requires.”
“I am the protector, the nurturer and the nurturer. I am everything,” she says. “It’s just bizarre because I’m the one changing light bulbs in 12-foot ceilings and I’m the one carrying a 60-lb bag of dog food from the grocery store to the car.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(539x0:541x2)/Angie-Harmon-Talks-Raising-3-Daughters-as-a-Single-Mom-2-120523-801b55e4aaa8497caac6712f2a75b854.jpg)
Angie Harmon and her three daughters.
Angie Harmon/Instagram
Angie Harmon says her daughters are coping Rizzoli & Isles to comfort her dogs while she’s gone (exclusive)
Harmon then digs into the new book she read, Tired of tryingher friend Ashley Morgan Jackson, expressing how much the topic spoke to her.
“Just imagine your life is going to be one and then it turns out to be different. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love the life I’ve been blessed with and I wouldn’t have my daughters if I didn’t have that marriage and all that,” she says of the girls’ father, Jason Sehorn, 52, who also lives in Charlotte.
Harmon and Sehorn, who remained on friendly terms, divorced in 2014 after 13 years of marriage.
“So, I mean, I get it. It wasn’t exactly my plan, but it’s God’s plan. And that’s normal—that’s what works best. So I failed. That’s okay.”
Looking back on the passage of time, Harmon says she can’t believe her oldest, who just moved into her first apartment in Dallas, just turned 20.
“I mean, Finley is 20 years old and I’m like, ‘What?’ She can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. So I tell people my teenage daughters are 10 years old and now I have this 20-year-old…”
Harmon says “that thing out there” is just something to “sit and think about,” but she’s enjoying every moment of motherhood.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(539x0:541x2)/Angie-Harmon-Talks-Raising-3-Daughters-as-a-Single-Mom-3-120523-e6151caeba4c41db92cef04b47b7a4d6.jpg)
Angie Harmon and her three daughters.
Angie Harmon/Instagram
Now looking forward to Christmas, Harmon says decorating and hosting for the holiday is her “favorite thing” with her daughters and all their friends.
“I mean, it looks like Santa came in and just threw up all over my house,” he jokes. “I’m going to bring out all the great China — we put heaters on the porch and we eat outside and it’s really like that, it’s just my favorite. It’s cold and I just love it.”
“There’s always something in the crockpot or the slow cooker—I like having people over.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education