Tia Mowry-Hardrict Says Her Son Has Experienced Bullies At School: “I Was Pretty Shocked”

We all experience bullies at least once in our lives, and Tia Mowry-Hardrict says her son Cree has run into some of his own.

Mowry-Hardrict, who shares her 7-year-old son with her husband, #CoryHardrict, says she didn’t think Cree would encounter bullying at such an early age. 

“To be honest with you, I was pretty shocked to see how early on bullying takes place,” the actress told ESSENCE. “I think it’s really, really important to socialize your kids and how I prepared was involving play dates and traveling with my son.”

The actress mentioned she made sure to “start young” with preparing Cree for school “so that…when they make that transition of going to school, it’s not so much of a shock about being around other people other than your parents, or other than people you’re familiar with at home.”

Regardless, Mowry-Hardrict isn’t worried as she describes her son as a “social butterfly.” “Cree absolutely loves school. He loves all of his friends.” She also noted that she too was bullied as a child, but having her sister around made it easier. “I remember I was bullied for my hair and just having big poofy hair,” she recalled. “And I remember I also had buck teeth when I was little, and they would call my sister and I the buck teeth twins.”

The actress continued, “It was pretty tough, but I mean, the good thing is that I had my sister and she was right there by my side. And I think it definitely helped with dealing with bullying because we had each other.”