Hilary Duff Opened Up About Being “Stretched Really Thin” as a New Mother of Three

"A lot of people have been like, 'That third kid really gets you.' And they're right."

Hilary Duff just welcomed her third child on March 24th, and she has her hands full. Her new baby girl, Mae James Bair, is her second child with husband Matthew Koma—the couple welcomed their first, 2-year-old daughter Banks Violet, in October 2018. Duff is also mom to 9-year-son Luca Cruz, whom she shares with former husband Mike Comrie, so the Younger actress is running a bustling house. In a recent cover story for People, Duff opened up about the “mayhem” of having three kids under the age of 10 and how she’s been juggling it all.

“I’m so in love with all my kids, but I’m stretched really thin, I will say that,” Duff said. “Like kids need a lot and now I have three of them.” The actress says she’s just now understanding what that jump from two to three kids is really like.

“It’s a learning curve to throw a newborn into the mix,” she said. “A lot of people have been like, ‘That third kid really gets you.’ And they’re right.”

When she’s feeling overwhelmed, though, Duff takes a moment to check in with herself. “Some days I’m like, ‘Am I okay? Yeah I am, okay, alright,’ and we just keep on rollin’,” she said.

The 33-year-old actress also made it clear that she’s not at it alone. “I have help,” she said. “I work a lot so I have nannies and I’m not trying to front that I don’t have helping hands around.”

She also gave credit to her husband for being such a positive partner and dad. “He was such an amazing dad right out the gate,” Duff said. “In this time of breastfeeding and craziness, he was like, ‘I’m just going to be your assistant because I think that’s how I’m going to be the most help to you in this timeframe.’ He has this really amazing way of looking at the big picture where I’m very much like, right-here-right-now—and he zooms out.”

Even with the support of everyone else, though, sometimes the kids “just want their mom,” the actress said. “Even Luca, who’s 9, is still like, ‘Mom, Mom, Mom,’ like I’m the only one in the room,” she said, “[when] I’m like doing something with Banks and a baby on my boob, I’m like, ‘Can you ask someone else?'”

While Duff admits “there’s not really a lot of me-time right now,” she’s still full of gratitude for her busy life.

“As much as I complain about the mayhem, I think I love when everyone is full of energy and the house is buzzing,” she said. “…It just feels good to have a partner and these kids that bring so much energy and laughter, like they’re freaking funny.”

She continued, saying that she’s at a point where she feels “confident as a mom” and she’s cherishing that feeling. “I feel really grateful to be having all of these experiences as a mom and learning so much.”

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