Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Daughter Urged Her to Go to Therapy: ‘The More You Deny It the More You Need It’ (Exclusive)

Sheryl Lee Ralph isn’t afraid to seek out help when she needs it. 

The Abbott Elementary star, 66, recently opened up about a harrowing period in 2013 when her son Etienne, 31, was mugged and stabbed after being involved in a brain-damaging car accident.

With the scary moment now 10 years behind them, Ralph is getting candid about how she was able to push past that troubling time — and the important role her daughter Ivy-Victoria, now 28, played at the time.

“My daughter said to me, ‘Mommy, you need therapy because you have been traumatized,’” she told PEOPLE while attending Project Angel Food’s “Rise to the Challenge” ceremony on Thursday. “And I was like, ‘No, I haven’t.’ And she said, ‘See? You’re the kind of person that really needs it.’ The more you deny it the more you need it. And I was just like, ‘Wow.’”

Etienne Maurice and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

emma McIntyre/Getty

Sheryl Lee Ralph ‘Collapsed’ After Her Son Had a Brain-Damaging Car Accident Then Was Shot 3 Times in 2013

The actress revealed that her experiences as a “child of integration” had made her adverse to seeking out help from others. She also explained how she was “set up” to take on her problems with “slings and arrows.”

“You’re literally set up to be hurt by the forces that come for you, and I think that I’ve been in that position my whole life, that it’s like, ‘Okay, what’s one more back stab?’” Ralph said of her past and how she’s learned from her experiences. “But we will get through it, because I have gotten through it in the past. And I think in some way, I’ve been made stronger by it all.”

Though Etienne’s accident led to her own trauma, the Dreamgirls star told PEOPLE in a separate interview, where she was promoting her partnership with MadeGood, that she has walked away with a very valuable lesson about motherhood: “You’ve got to love your children to their better self.”

“There are moments in your children’s lives that will bring you to your knees,” she explained. “Sometimes in exhaustion. God’s willing, it is in prayer. But as a parent sometimes you have got to dig deep in your soul and never give up on your children.”

Etienne Maurice, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ivy-Victoria Maurice and Senator Vincent Hughes.
Robin L Marshall/Getty

Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Son Reflects on Finding Good in ‘Traumatic’ 2013 Incidents: ‘Truly Grateful That I’m Alive’

Referencing Etienne’s nonprofit WalkGoodLA, which is centered around healing, mental health and overall well-being, Ralph added: “For me, when I look at my children and I think about mistakes, I said, ‘Listen, that was a learning curve. Now, what would be awful through some of these things is if you didn’t learn, but obviously you have learned.’ People talk about testimony. The test has become a testimony. The pain has brought him through with greater purpose. And through his own experiences in life, he is able to be of better help and service to others.”

Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Kids Share Emotional Video Celebrating Her Emmy Win: We Are so Proud of You’

Last month, Ralph revealed she had physically broken down when she learned of Etienne’s injuries in a cover story for AARP Magazine’s August/September issue.

“When Etienne was in college, he had a car accident and suffered a concussion. It changed his whole brain,” she explained. “Then he got mugged, and they shot him three times. He woke up in the hospital with two bullets in his leg and a wound in his forehead where a bullet had grazed him.”

When Ralph heard that her son had been shot, she “collapsed and dropped the phone.”

“I didn’t even listen to the rest. But they didn’t kill him, thank God,” the Emmy winner said. “Now he runs his own production company and nonprofit, WalkGoodLA.”

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Ralph shares Etienne and Ivy-Victoria (who also goes by “Coco”) with ex Eric Maurice, whom she divorced in 2001.

In her cover story for AARP, the actress said she always “knew I was going to be somebody’s mother,” calling her children “my greatest gift.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education