Soledad O’Brien ‘Won’t Pull Strings For a Playdate’
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There is no easy road when it comes to balancing a demanding job with the responsibilities of motherhood, according to Soledad O’Brien. A full-time anchor for CNN and a mother of four – Sofia Elizabeth, 8, Cecilia, 6 ½, and twins Charlie and Jackson, 4 ½ – Soledad admits to Time Out Kids that, with no other obvious solution, her hectic schedules have simply learned to compliment each other. “Actually, the craziness of a career balances the craziness of family life,” says the 42-year-old, who finds comfort amidst the chaos with her Blackberry.
Despite Soledad’s ability to find a center balance between the two forces, she is quick to ensure that her family remain her priority. Following her daughter’s expressed disapproval of Soledad’s constant traveling — “I don’t mind you traveling for an important story, but I don’t like that you also travel for stupid meetings” — a decision was made that has the busy mama planning her schedules accordingly. “So I said, ‘I hear you, sister,’ and we made an agreement: No more travel just to go to a meeting.”
However, simple solutions aren’t always the case, as Soledad found herself away from her family on location following the tsunami, she possesses an uncanny ease to switch gears from devastating disasters to mundane mommy mishaps!
“When I came home from covering the devastation of the 2004 tsunami, I walked in the house and the first thing I did was fix my daughter Cecilia’s hair. I had come home to a blonde Afro. My daughter has curls and when I asked my husband [Bradley Raymond] what happened, he said, ‘I just kept brushing and combing it and this is what happened.’”
Continue reading for the scoop on a possible playdate with Sasha and Malia Obama!
As a leading journalist in the media industry, Soledad’s status often has her reporting stories concerning some of the world’s most famous figures — more recently President Barack Obama – and her children have no qualms with letting their mother know they want in on the action as well!
“My girls have asked me to set up a playdate with Sasha and Malia Obama. Why? Because they see them on the cover of magazines and figure they should play with them. I won’t pull strings for a playdate. An interview, yes, but not a playdate.”
While their wishes may go unanswered for now, it seems that Soledad’s kids have a possible future in front of the cameras themselves. Revealing that the paparazzi have always been “pretty respectful” of the family, Soledad says her children “love having their picture taken,” but are understandably wary of the flashing lights. “It’s the flashbulbs that kill,” she admits. One particular scene comes to mind for Soledad, as she recalls the flashes at a recent event in New York “really disturbing. Made us hyperventilate.”
Source: Time Out Kids
