Katherine Schwarzenegger and Chris Pratt have three kids together. They have two daughters, Lyla, four, and Eloise, three, and a son, Ford, eight months. Chris also has a son, Jack, 12, from his first marriage to Anna Faris. Katherine’s whole vibe is elite trad wife. She loves eating off the children’s menu in restaurants, yearns for the day when the Met Gala was “chic and classy,” and talks a lot about motherhood. Over the years, Chris has never missed an opportunity to gush over how great a mom he thinks she is, which has raised a lot of eyebrows about Chris and Katherine’s relationship with Jack.
Katherine and Chris recently appeared on the Parenting & You with Dr. Shefali podcast. During their interview, they talked about her step-parenting journey. In order to prepare for life as a step-mother, Katherine hired a coach after she and Chris got engaged to help her understand her “role” and “responsibilities” as a step-mother.
Katherine Schwarzenegger is opening up about her journey to becoming a step-parent ― and how a step-parent coach has helped her along the way. The 35-year-old, who has three children with her husband, actor Chris Pratt, is also a step-parent to Pratt’s son, Jack. Pratt shares 12-year-old Jack with his ex-wife, Anna Faris.
Schwarzenegger said during a joint podcast appearance with Pratt that she would recommend a step-parenting coach or therapist to anyone with a blended family, as she retained one “right when we got engaged” and found it “essential.”
“It’s been incredibly helpful for me and also just understanding my role as a step-parent,” the author said during an appearance on the “Parenting & You with Dr. Shefali” podcast, released on Tuesday.
“Step-parenting ― like parenting ― has no, you know, handbook,” she said. “Because also I have the benefit of being in both roles, step-parenting is extra confusing because you aren’t a parent, you’re not a nanny, you’re not an assistant. You have responsibilities in all of those areas, but you’re not either of them. It’s a confusing thing to try to navigate where you fit in.”
While she shared that “every dynamic is obviously very different” within each family, she said that she, Pratt, Faris and Faris’ partner ― cinematographer Michael Barrett― all co-parent “very well” together.
“It works when everybody is willing to put in the work,” Schwarzenegger said.
Pratt added that being in the position of a step-parent is “a tough job” and you don’t always “end up getting the credit you deserve.”
“If a parent is in there doing the hard work ― in the paint ― of creating structure for a child and holding children accountable, and it’s not a biological child, it can feel thankless. But it’s a really, really important job.”
Looking past the extreme privilege of being able to hire a “step-parenting coach,” I can understand Katherine’s logic here. She cares about getting along with Jack, which is nice. I’m not a step-parent but I’ve definitely had instances when my kids have had friends over who have misbehaved to the point of needing discipline. In the moment, I’ve been torn about what level of parenting is appropriate, and I’m not married to one of their parents, which adds a different level of complication.
That said, It feels like Chris is stepping in it again with his whole step-parents ”don’t end up getting the credit [they] deserve.” Is he alluding to something that went down behind the scenes that we don’t know about or is he just overpraising again? In general, parents don’t always get the credit that they deserve. It’s called parenting, and yeah, it sucks, but that’s part of what we sign up for. It’s about the child(ren), not you. I wonder if Chris, Katherine, and Anna had a conversation or even went to therapy together before their marriage to understand each party’s feelings and expectations. I bet communication between both sides helps Jack, too.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Getty Images for Netflix, Getty