Many schools across America have been required to shut down for the remainder of the school year amid the coronavirus pandemic. Approximately 300 million children worldwide are no longer attending class, which means parents are forced to homeschool their kids. Parents and celebrities have openly complained about the struggles that come with being around their children 24/7, but for Deborah Cox not much has changed in her household.
Cox and her family appear to be handling their new shelter-in-place lives quite well. The singer-songwriter recently shared in an interview with MadameNoire that she has been homeschooling two of her children since the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead. “We’ve been homeschooling our girls since the Parkland shooting. We’re here in Parkland. It hit our area and ever since that tragedy, I was just completing paranoid and upset about what was going on in the schools and just decided, for our girls, to home school.”
The “Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here” lyricist suggested parents will actually find homeschooling their children to be quite useful. “I think a lot of people are going to find that it’s actually helpful. The kids get a lot more rest. You are able to monitor what they’re learning more, but the pressure is on, you really have to work closely with the teachers,” she added.
Cox shares three children with her husband of 20 years, Lascelles Stephens. The couple dated throughout high school and claim their close friendship helped them survive two decades of marriage. “Lascelles and I were friends first. I think that’s why our situation really works, because, at the end of the day, we’re friends,” she explained.
Cox, a mother of two middle-school age girls and one high-school age son, revealed that working and being a full-time mom has been a challenge for her. She released her latest single, “Easy Way,” at the beginning of the year and explained her anthem was produced for couples who are struggling to maintain a long-term relationship.
In addition to singing, the star has also dabbled in acting. She is currently starring in the BET Plus original film “Influence.” The television crime drama is based on the Carl Weber novel “Influence: Death of the Beach.” The film follows the life of a high-profile singer who murdered her husband.
The 45-year-old Cox told MadameNoire she holds her family and career together by not being too hard on herself. “I just learned that it’s really about being OK with it not always being OK. You want to be the best mom. You want to be the best wife. You want to be everything to everyone, and that’s impossible. But if you can’t please yourself and be happy with whatever goals you set for yourself, then at least you’ve made yourself happy and then everybody can come after that,” she concluded.
