Why Mandy Moore Felt 'A Lot of Shame' During Her Parenthood Journey

Since welcoming her first child, son August "Gus" Harrison, back in February, Mandy Moore has been keeping fans up to date on her new journey as a mom, even sharing adorable Instagram snaps of her baby boy along the way. But as the This Is Us actress recently revealed, the transition into parenthood wasn't seamless. (

In a new interview with Parents magazine, Moore said she experienced feelings of "shame" after watching her husband, musician Taylor Goldsmith, "effortlesly step" into parenthood. "Everything he did seemed easy. He could get Gus to go to sleep like that, to laugh like that, whereas I felt clumsy and awkward," explained Moore. "I felt a lot of shame and a lot of guilt."

Fortunately, Moore received some words of encouragement from her inner circle, who told the 37-year-old actress to "find some grace and patience" with herself as a new mom. "Suddenly, we glided into a new phase and Gus preferred me to my husband," she told Parents. "And it's going to change again. It's a roller coaster."

Moore also told Parents how societal expectations can contribute to the added pressures mothers often put on themselves when it comes to mastering parenthood. "There's so much expectation from society, and we put ourselves under so much pressure and scrutiny. It's silly. I feel like I'm going to be constantly checking myself, because right now, I feel like I have a handle on things, but I know that any day I'm going to feel like I'm flailing again," she said.

As far as her ultimate goal as a mother, Moore hopes to be just as involved in Gus' life as her parents were with her growing up. "Gus is the most important thing in my life, but I still love my job. I know it will be a balance of figuring out how to do a bit of everything," she told Parents. "I want to be present and available, and I want to be involved at school. I very much want to be the parent who volunteers for the field trip. I had that in my own life with my parents." (

And with the most wonderful time of year quickly approaching, Moore and Goldsmith, 36, who have been married since 2018, are looking forward to their first holiday season with Gus. "Holidays mean family to me. I'm excited to figure out what our traditions are going to be. In my family, on Christmas Eve, we always had breakfast for dinner because on my parents' first Christmas together, they had no food in the house except eggs and bacon and toast, and so that became Christmas Eve dinner. That might be a fun tradition to keep up with our family," she told Parents. "Or maybe we'll force Gus to have some sort of family band with us, and we'll make him sing carols with us."