Broadway star Sutton Foster opened up about parenting, self-discovery, and her 7-year-old daughter Emily during a heartfelt conversation on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s on Me podcast. The 50-year-old Tony winner reflected on how motherhood has reshaped her perspective—both on raising a child and reparenting herself.
Foster, who shares Emily with estranged husband Ted Griffin, credits her own mother for instilling independence and ambition but acknowledges the emotional gaps in their relationship. “My mom taught me drive, but she wasn’t there in the ways I needed,” Foster shared. “Now, as a parent, I see it clearly—I’ve had to become my own parent too.”
A transformative moment came when Foster realized she could extend the same love to herself that she gives her daughter. Every night, she tells Emily, “I love you. I’m so proud of you.” Now, she repeats those words to herself in the mirror. “Can you dare to love yourself as much as you love your child?” she mused. “It was a revolutionary concept for me.”
Emily, meanwhile, is already embracing the arts—singing, writing stories (a talent from her screenwriter dad), and even cheering on Foster backstage during her Once Upon a Mattress run. “She’d say, ‘Turn it up, Mommy!’ and just listen to the show,” Foster laughed. “It was the sweetest thing.”
Foster’s journey—balancing Broadway, single motherhood, and self-acceptance—proves that growth never stops. “No matter what,” she said, “I’m learning to say, ‘I’m so proud of you’—to her, and to me.”
