Hilary Duff: My kids’ bond helped me overcome mum guilt

Hilary Duff says her son Luca’s "sweet bond" with his younger sister Banks helped ease her mum "guilt".
The ‘Lizzie McGuire’ star felt guilty when she gave birth to Banks in October 2018, as she knew the tot would beed "so much" attention from her, meaning she would have less time to dote on her eight-year-old son Luca – whom she has with her ex-husband Mike Comrie.
She explained: "A newborn needs their mom so much, and so much of that time is sitting and nursing. You’re kind of incapable of physically doing anything else with another child. [My son] Luca was almost seven when I had her. I had a lot of guilt and felt like, ‘Am I giving him enough?’ "
But after seeing how the youngster doted on his sister – whom Hilary has with husband Matthew Koma – the ‘Younger’ star was able to "overcome" her worries.
Hilary, 32, added: "Their bond was so sweet right away. It helped me overcome that [guilt] because I saw that he was old enough to [understand]. If I could give him a finite, ‘Hey, I have to do this for the next 35 minutes, and then it’s going to be your time with me,’ he could wrap his head around that. The age gap is actually really great. They’re buddies."
Over the last few weeks, the actress has been social distancing at home with her brood, and while it hasn’t been easy, Hilary is cherishing the extra time spent around her loved ones.
She said: "I’ve never been spread so thin because I’m now keeping a house clean, keeping everybody fed for almost every single meal and doing four-plus hours of homeschooling a day. It’s not like I can just give Luca an assignment and be like, ‘Here, you have 30 minutes or you have an hour.’ I have to be there with him helping every step of the way."
And the family are being extra careful, because Luca is travelling between households as he is also visiting his dad Mike Comrie.
Speaking to People magazine, Hilary explained: "We’re taking this really seriously. Luca goes between two households and we don’t know who’s carrying. My mom is a diabetic [so we’re being extra careful]. She did something really sweet for Luca’s birthday [last month]. She made a big sign, and her and her boyfriend drove by the house and played an interactive game with him."