Raising Healthy Daughters

Family Health, Featured Article, Healthy Living
on August 1, 2013
Angie Harmon talks about her family and health.
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Angie Harmon’s job—playing police detective Jane Rizzoli on TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles—may be in Los Angeles. But her home, where she and husband Jason Sehorn are raising their three daughters, is in the very un-Hollywood-like city of Charlotte, N.C.

Angie and ex-NFL star Jason felt daughters Finley, 10, Avery, 8, and Emery, 5, were being exposed to too much too soon in Los Angeles. “We all want physically healthy children, but I also want girls who have high self-esteem and good values, morals and ethics,” says Angie, who turns 41 this month. “Making sure all of that is intact is probably the hardest thing.” We talk to the former Law & Order prosecutor about how she does that—and more.

Spry: When your family is in North Carolina and you’re in Los Angeles, how do you stay involved with their lives? 

Angie: Obviously, I have Jason to keep me abreast of the situations that are going on. And I make it mandatory that they talk to or see me every day—we Skype every night. Then we meet every weekend or every other weekend.

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Spry: How do you stay active as a family?

Angie: We hike, we bike ride. Sometimes the girls ride bikes and we run with them. I can’t figure out if that’s the smartest or the dumbest thing I’ve ever come up with.

Spry: How do you teach your girls good nutrition?

Angie: I cook fairly healthy meals—we do chicken and steaks, veggies. I have one that has a real sweet tooth. Her body’s changing, and she sees what happens if she eats poorly. She wants to be healthy and strong, so we talk about it. We talk about how the body is like a car—it has to have the right kind of fuel.

Spry: How do you deal with body-image issues?

Angie: For a while there, with the girls, it was all about the skinny-fat thing. But I had to explain to them that’s not what it’s about. It’s about having your body be the best it can be. It’s about being strong. As I get older, I want to be able to do things with them. To have an easier shot at that, I work out regularly. It’s important to me to be able to just get outside and sweat, because once I’m finished, my energy level is just so much higher—not to mention my spirits.

Spry: What values are important for you to pass on as a parent? 

Angie: Women need to know that who they are is precious and important, so that they’re able to make informed decisions about who’s loving them in the way that they need to be loved. I meet girls who are in their 20s and they’re so together because they really know who they are. To have that kind of awareness at such a young age, it’s incredible. I’m hoping to be able to do that for my daughters—to equip them to go out into society and be steadfast in who they are.