Tia Mowry Addresses ‘Backlash’ for Calling Herself a ‘Single Mom’: ‘I Don’t Have a Partner’

Tia Mowry broke down why she considers herself a "single mom" after splitting from her ex-husband, Cory Hardict.

On Tuesday (July 22), the former Sister, Sister star posted an Instagram reel that spotlighted quality time she's spent with her son, Cree, 14, and daughter Cairo, 7, whom she shares with Hardict. At the beginning of the carousel, Mowry asked why she received "backlash" for calling herself a "single mom."

"Sometimes I wonder why saying "I'm a single mom" sparks so much backlash," she wrote in the second slide, which showed her walking barefoot in the sand. "Family can look different than what we imagined and still be full of love, stability and joy. This is my truth, and I want to share it."

Overlayed over a reel of her doing Cairo's hair, Mowry continued by explaining that "single mom," to her, "doesn't always mean a mom doing it all alone without the father present in their kids' lives at all." The actress added that there's "nuance" to the term, meaning that in her home, she's single and doesn't have a "partner."

"I'm the only parent present day to day," she wrote.

Mowry added that in the "first nights" following her divorce, she questioned whether she, Hardict and their children were "still a family."

"Looking back now, I knew we always were," she continued.

Mowry went on to explain that "different family dynamics" should be normalized regardless if there's one parent in the household. "Just because parents aren't together doesn't mean the family is "broken." It just looks differently," she wrote.

Mowry and Hardict were married from 2008 to 2023, and the actress documented her post-divorce journey on former We TV reality show Tia Mowry: My Next Act. On social media, Mowry frequently imparts wisdom about divorce and occasionally posts family moments spent with her ex-husband and children.

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