Christina Milian says raising her newborn son amid the coronavirus pandemic has been a "blessing" in disguise.
The 38-year-old actress and singer gave birth to her son Isaiah – whom she has with Matt Pakora – in January, and although staying at home amid the current health crisis has been tough, she’s also found the silver lining because the stay-at-home order means she can focus on her brood without going back to work.
Christina – who also has nine-year-old daughter Violet with The-Dream – said: "It’s been an absolute blessing. I couldn’t have asked for a better time for this to be happening to be honest with you.
"I think it was going to be more challenging if I went straight back to work because there would have been a sense of guilt that would really overcome me of not being able to have that time with my baby so this couldn’t have come at a better time. A week after having the baby, I was getting calls about auditions … and I have that hustle mentality in me and I don’t want to burn out in doing too much.
"One of the best and most rewarding things to ever happen is being a mom and I don’t want to take that for granted."
The ‘Falling Inn Love’ star is also thankful that the pandemic means her boyfriend Matt is spending more time at home too.
She added: "I’m grateful for the family bonding time. That is probably the biggest blessing that has ever happened. I’m grateful for Matt. As a new dad, he would have been working and on tour. This means so much for us. It’s our first child together and I’m raising my child for the first time with his dad from the beginning and it’s really special to me. This is what life is all about and I don’t mind the break."
Christina gave her advice to other mothers spending time in quarantine, and told them to "be strong".
Speaking to E! News, she said: "I want to tell the mums to be strong. I know we don’t get a lot of times to ourselves but I want to send a lot of loves to my mum. I think the best advice from my mum was make sure to try and get time to yourself."