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Erika Girardi Reveals If She Was a Strict Mom to Her Police Officer Son
The RHOBH cast member opens up about her "rules" as a mom.
Erika Girardi has been opening up more and more during Season 10 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills about her marriage to Tom Girardi, as well as her life as a mom. Her little boy is all grown up — and given that he went into law enforcement, she thinks that tells you everything you need to know about how strict she was with her son when he was growing up.
"I raised a police officer. What does that tell you? I mean, you know? Yeah, there wasn’t a lot of free[dom]. I believe in rules and I believe in, you know, constantly having those followed," she told The Daily Dish in a recent interview about her mothering philosophy.
She even recently shared a photo of her boy in uniform, writing, "People say we look alike."
(You can hear more from Erika about the two men in her life, in the video above.)
Erika is an Atlanta native, and the subject of southern moms came up during the Season 10 premiere of RHOBH last month, when Erika and fellow Georgia native Sutton Stracke bonded over the subject.
"You are southern to the core. That is how I was raised: Let them cry," she shared with Sutton, adding in the episode's interview about what it's like growing up in the south: "A southern mom takes no s--t, will beat your ass with a belt. My grandmother was even worse. She would hit me with the fly swatter. That was convenient."
In the April 22 episode, she opened up about how her husband, Tom, embraced his role as a stepdad. "That's the one thing I loved most about Tom when my son was younger was that he welcomed him with open arms," Erika recalled with tears in her eyes. "I'm very thankful. That's my guy."
As for what's next, well, as Erika shared in the same episode of RHOBH, she isn't quite ready to be a grandma.
"My son is grown. He's 27 years old. It's a whole 'nother ball of wax," she told Garcelle Beauvais in the episode when the RHOBH newbie revealed she was going to be a grandmother.
Is Erika ready for grandkids? "Congratulations to Garcelle, but I don't want to be a grandmother," Erika said in the episode's interview. "I mean, do you really want me to pick someone up from Pre-K? No."
