A day in the life of mom Solenn
Solenn Heussaff starts her day right by rising early. She wakes up around 5 to 6 a.m., stays away from gadgets, soaks in the peaceful, early morning air, and gets ready for the day ahead.
Starting her day right helps the TV host/actress and businesswoman power through the everyday life with one-year-old daughter Thylane Katana and husband Nico Bolzico.
In a recent exclusive interview, the 35-year-old gave The STAR a snapshot of her day.
“Usually in the morning, it’s Nico who takes care of Thylane. So, I have that one hour to do the things I want to do, chill if I want to chill or walk around the village. From that point until around lunch, I’m full-on (mom mode) with my daughter. We do activities like biking outside. I do colors with her and play cards. I just keep her busy because she’s at a very difficult stage. They call it the Leap 9, where her brain is just super developing and just needs to be busy all the time,” she shared.
“In between, I either prepare our meals or do meal-planning for the week. I have an excellent cook at home so I’m happy she’s now taking over the whole cooking department.”
Solenn then works from home all the way to 5 p.m., during which she holds virtual meetings (especially as she’s launching new products this month) or tapes episodes for her GMA lifestyle show Taste Buddies. By five, she’s done with work and goes walking again, this time with Thylane, to complete at least three kilometers a day. Sometimes, mom and daughter visit the village park where the latter gets to interact with fellow children. “By 7 p.m., I start Thylane’s bedtime, bathe her, feed her and then put her to bed. And then that’s when I have my dinner, watch one movie after or usually one episode a night. (I) sleep early. I’m in bed at 9:30 every night.”
When asked for practical tips on how to balance mommy duties and all, she said it’s important to draw up a to-do list every night. It doesn’t have to be filled up with 300 things to do, she stressed, just two to three tasks that need to be accomplished the next day because “you have a bigger chance of fulfilling every single thing.”
The STAR got to ask Solenn these questions after she was introduced as the face of the fiber supplement CRX C-Lium Fibre’s new campaign dubbed Start Your Day Right, which spreads the word about digestive health and the benefits of daily fibre intake.
Solenn said on being tapped as endorser of the supplement she takes in the morning: “I have been blessed to have an amazing husband and now a daughter who support my endeavors. Now, I have a new partner in health whom I can turn to, to keep my digestive health, even my cholesterol and sugar, in check.” (As the product’s description says, its psyllium fibre is what helps control cholesterol and blood sugar levels, along with proper diet and regular physical activity. It can be mixed with water or juice, if not consumed as a capsule. It comes in mango, pineapple and dalandan flavors and can be purchased in drugstores, supermarkets and online via PascualLab’s Shopee and Lazada stores).
C-Lium couldn’t have picked a more ideal celeb than Solenn to champion digestive health. To many, she’s a fitspiration and “mom goals”. Does she feel any pressure to live up to those labels? She said, “I just do what I do and if you like me, okay. If you don’t, okay din (laughs). I don’t get pressured by the title. I don’t like titles na nga, I mean, whatever (laughs).”
One “title” she embraces with all her heart is being a mom. Since Thylane was born on Jan. 1, 2020, Solenn takes pride that she has witnessed all her baby girl’s milestones.
During our chat, she opened up about how motherhood changed her, from her fitness habits to career priorities. She also talked about her marriage to Argentinian businessman and social media star in his own right, Nico. They recently celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary, which they both hilariously forgot because by Solenn’s admission, they’re not the “ma-celebrate” type of couple. But amid the lockdown and all, one thing she has confirmed is that she married right.
“Yeah, because my gosh, we’ve been together for 10 years but I’ve never spent this much time with him. (Before) we’d see each other at night, go on a trip, have maybe two-week trips together and everything. But this pandemic, we’re 24/7 together. If it didn’t work, it didn’t work.”
On the fulfilling and challenging parts of raising a toddler amid a pandemic:
“Fulfilling amidst the pandemic (because) it’s good to be at home 24/7, like every single first word, every single first movement and hand gesture, every single thing, I was present. I was there. I didn’t miss anything, so that was really, for me, the most amazing.
“Challenging, of course, because I feel like socializing children is very important. I feel like maybe kids of this generation might have difficulties in the future when it comes to socializing or being amongst people. Luckily, the age of Tili (Thylane’s nickname), she’s a toddler, they still don’t get what’s happening so that’s not a problem yet, but I do try to socialize her.
“I was pregnant (at the same time) with nine of my very good friends. We didn’t plan it. All our kids are the same age by one or two months (of difference) so I know they’re safe, I know they’re home, so I know that it’s safe for me to go to them or for them to come to me, so we do have playdates for our children.”
On being hands-on with Thylane:
“No (I don’t have a yaya for her). I was never planning to get one actually because I just felt like I wanted to be really hands-on. Then obviously, the pandemic hit and so it allowed me to just be home. And now that I’ve seen how delicate and precious babies are, even if times were normal and I would have a second child, I think I would do it the same way.
“I really want to be, at least for the first three years of their life, the one doing everything. Obviously, I’ll need some help when I really go back to full-time showbiz or stuff like that, or have to go out, or have to travel without them. But as of the time being, it’s just amazing that I’m able to witness every single milestone she’s going through and spend time also with Nico.
“Because before this, we’ve been together for 10 years, but in those 10 years I’ve been super busy with showbiz. I was hardly at home. I’d get home to shower literally sometimes. So, I’ve really gotten the chance to reconnect with him, with the family. And for me, it’s really a blessing or like, it’s the silver lining of this pandemic.”
On how her outlook on health has shifted since becoming a mom:
“I’ve always been on the healthier side since I was 25. I’m turning 36 (in July), so yeah, it’s been 10 years that I’ve really been like, I look into things I buy and the groceries. I make sure there’s not too much of this ingredient and that ingredient, but I’m not naman super OA. I really love food and I like to enjoy my food. I still like to go out to restaurants and I like my junk food every now and then. But overall, if you look at my lifestyle, it is a healthy lifestyle. I work out a lot. I eat right at home. And this pandemic just showed us even more that you really need to be healthy because those who were healthy and infected by COVID had bigger chances than those who had unhealthier lifestyles.
“Being a mom, of course, I want to be here for the rest of my daughter’s life to make sure that she has help. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to me, not for selfish reasons, but because I would want her to always have me and Nico by her side when she’s going through certain things in her life.
“So, if I am healthy then I’m also giving her a better lifestyle because I’m making sure that I’m able to do the activities I need to do when she grows up. I’m able to keep up with her because she’s full of energy and I can already imagine her in a few years’ time. It all goes hand-in-hand. You want to be healthier for the people around you so you can really be more for them also.”
On how her priorities have been changed by motherhood and the pandemic:
“Now, personally, I know that I don’t want to do showbiz 100-percent anymore. Before, I was all work, work, work! I didn’t want to be home. If I had one day-off, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m jobless!’ Like, I was freaked out already. But now, you know what, I’m okay with doing 50-50. Or just doing projects when I feel like doing them because I want to be present.
“If this hadn’t happened, I think I would still be on that bandwagon. And, obviously, you know the people that are truly important to you are those who really stuck by you during this pandemic. So, you get to eliminate toxic people.
“And then start like new courses online and all the things you wanted to do but you were too busy to do. You actually had the time to sit down or read the book you want to read or do the online class you want to take or learn a language.
“Of course, I know I am more privileged than others so I’m not saying it was easy for everyone. It wasn’t easy for me but it was even harder for other people so I am lucky to be in that spectrum where I had my savings and everything. I think it was very different for many people. But even for those who had a difficult time, I think they had some type of clarity with this pandemic.
“Even Nico. When Thylane was first born, for example, he was leaving at 7 a.m. and then coming back at 6 p.m. every day so he didn’t really get to bond with her. And then now, the pandemic happened. Of course, lots of things happened to him, and they’ve had to fire people and close companies, it’s very sad also. But he saw that aspect of, ‘I can actually work from home.’ So, in the future, he wants to do at least just part-time, like three days a week in the office and be present talaga. So, we all have different (realizations)... Again, it enlightened us in some ways, (giving) clarity of what you really want in life, what’s really truly important.”
On being married to Nico, a fellow fitness and health enthusiast:
“The advantage is that he is more of a ‘workout-holic’ than me. I’ve been lazy and to be quite honest, I work out three to four times a week. But if it were in the normal times where I’d have to actually fit into certain clothes or attend an event, I think I would have more of the push. But that shouldn’t be the reason. Other people’s views on you shouldn’t be the reason, but I would have more of that push to like, okay I need to look fit because I’m attending this or I need to fit in this.
“But nowadays, I literally live in my pajamas. I’ve lived in two pairs of slippers for the last two years, you know what I mean... So, I haven’t had to do that extra (because) I’m not seeing anyone. That (the workout) is really for myself. So, it’s a little bit harder to wake up and be like, hey, I need to do my five-kilometer run or whatever.
“But the good thing is having a husband like Nico. He will die without exercising so he runs 10 kilometres every day. If he doesn’t work out, he’s in a horrible mood. So, I really get inspired by him. When I’m lazy and be like, I’ll do it tomorrow, he’s like, ‘You have all the time to do it today, so do it today.’ He really pushes me. So that and his humor. We laugh a lot. Laughing is good for your health.”
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