Angela Bassett: ‘I might have to go into therapy when my kids fly the nest!’
Revealing how she and her husband are bracing themselves for extreme emotional reactions when their twins leave for college later his year, Angela Bassett has said she might need counselling to deal with the trauma of an empty nest.
Angela Bassett says she will need therapy when her children leave the nest.
The ‘What’s Live Got To Do With It’ actress, 65, says she and her actor husband Courtney B Vance, 64, are bracing themselves for extreme emotional reactions as their 18-year-old twins – son Slater and daughter Bronwyn – are set to go to college later this year.
She told Entertainment Tonight: “Oh I’m feeling very sad about it. I’m excited for them – I’m sad for me.
“I might have to go therapy – just do a little bit.”
Earlier this month, Angela and Courtney told People their twins have been going on a huge amount of college tours as they started to work out where they wanted to go.
Courtney said: “We saw 26 schools, all-day tours at each school. And so they're ready. It’s another transition.
“We went down the baby aisle, now we’ve got to go down the empty nest aisle and get used to them not being here.”
Angela has recalled celebrating her twins’ 18th birthday in January and says it left her feeling “proud of the young adults that they are becoming, the friendships that they make, the maturity that they exhibit”.
She added: “We always sort of told them, ‘The more you do the right thing, the more freedom that you are allowed, that you are given.’”
Courtney also said he thinks their two kids are a “beautiful combination of both of us” and “of all that we have poured into them”.
The family still has until autumn until the twins head to college, but friends have already been giving Angela and Courtney advice on how to handle it when they are faced with an empty house.
Courtney said: “Somebody’s telling me that, ‘Once you drop them off to school, don’t go home, go on vacation, go somewhere, do something.’
“So you come back with some deliciousness instead of some sadness in your mind and heart.”
But the ‘Law and Order’ actor added: “Our life has been getting ready for this. “Somebody told me – if you do it right, parenting is the job that you work yourself out of.”
Angela, who married Courtney in 1997, revealed she is focusing on staying positive as her life begins to change in the lead-up to the absence of her kids at home.
She said: “I try not to worry. I just try to pray more than worry. But it’s always a balancing act for a mom.”
