Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham is opening up about how her recent success has impacted her experience as a single mom. In a new interview with People, Hannah admitted that she does feel "mommy guilt" over the way her career has blown up, but it does sound like she's found a good way to explain it to her daughter.
More from Mom.com: Kim Kardashian Takes Her Daughter North & Niece Penelope To Visit a Hedgehog Café
Hannah said being a single mom is her "primary function"
She is raising her 8-year-old daughter, whose identity remains private, and reminds her that they are a "team" while Hannah tries to make the most of her success right now.
"I have to strike while the iron is hot," she admitted. "I'm not so conceited that I would think that I will always have this kind of focus. I've always said to her, 'Mommy must take this time while the light shines on me, because the light shines on you.'"
She wasn't always able to focus this much on her career
She's opened up before about how, around the time she was 3, her daughter was diagnosed with Henoch-Schönlein purpura, an auto-immune disorder that made her "suddenly very ill."
At the time, Hannah dropped everything to be there for her daughter as she fought an illness that can cause symptoms such as a purple rash and inflammation.
It was hard for her to talk about it for a while
And understandably so — a child dealing with an illness like that is every parent's worse fear.
"She was in the hospital for a while with them not knowing what it was," Hannah said, adding that she was looking for jobs that would allow her to stay in London and near her daughter during this time. And that's when Ted Lasso landed in her lap.
More from Mom.com: Kelly Osbourne Shares Relatable Glimpse of 'New Mum Life' While 'Covered in Baby Puke'
She was relieved that the show was shot in England
And after doing a chemistry read with Jason Sudeikis, she received the phone call that she was hoping for.
"I had to get off the phone and mop up my face in my car knowing that my life had just changed," she said.
Now she says her daughter "is much better now"
And Hannah even told People that the Emmy award she won for the show lives in her daughter's room "to teach her that work hard and great things will come to you."
Here's hoping that Hannah's daughter continues to thrive, because we have a feeling her mom's success isn't going anywhere!
