Why Garcelle Beauvais Feels "Like a Failure” After Emotional Conversation with Sons Jax and Jaid
The RHOBH mom shared that she sometimes feels "guilty" as a parent.
As Garcelle Beauvais' official bio confirms, she's in "unchartered territory" with her teenage sons on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 13.
The multi-hyphenate diamond holder, who is a mom to Oliver Saunders and twins Jax and Jaid Nilon, is trying to balance motherhood with her acting and other TV roles.
On the Season 13 premiere, which aired on October 25, Garcelle took her teenage twins to the beach for a picnic. While enjoying sandwiches and some quality time together, one of Garcelle's sons made a candid confession that stopped the RHOBH cast member in her tracks. Read on for details.
Garcelle Beauvais' Conversation with Sons Jax and Jaid
On the premiere, Garcelle reflected on how quickly her youngest sons have grown up. As a result, whenever she's back home in California, she tries to spend as much time as possible with her boys.
"So Jax and Jaid are 15 now. I remember the day when I would carry them both like this, like footballs," Garcelle said in an interview on the episode while raising her shoulders to show how she would carry them under her arms. "And, now, they can carry me. They're huge."
As Garcelle later explained, she's been dividing her time between California and Atlanta while working on a TV project in the latter area, so she tries to "just make quality time where [she] can."
Though Garcelle makes her kids her priority, her son Jax revealed on the episode that going back and forth between her house and their dad Mike Nilon's house "sucked." Garcelle also acknowledged that it was hard on Jax and Jaid when she was gone for a three-week stretch, with Jax adding that it felt like she had been gone for "a year."
"I felt like when I was talking to you when I was away, I could tell that you were annoyed that I was gone so long," she told her son. "I definitely feel guilty that my work takes me away sometimes."
She asked her boys for feedback, and she encouraged them to talk about the things that are bothering them. "Like, you can say, 'Mom, I wish you didn't go...'" she added. "I don't know if that would change me not going because it's work commitments, right, but I'm saying sometimes I wish you would vocalize it. This is your chance to say how you feel about how we run the household."
Jax shared that he wanted more freedom, and Garcelle said that she wanted him to let her parent him more.
"I understand where you're coming from that you want to be more of a parent to us, but I needed that two years ago," he said.
Garcelle Beauvais on Balancing Work and Parenthood
In a confessional, Garcelle discussed the difficulties of being a working parent.
"There's a lot of pressure as a working parent. I feel like I've always been there for my kids," she said. "Can I say I was there 100 percent, all the time? No, I can't. Hearing it from [Jax] is like a knife to the heart."
Jax added that he "needed more than [she] was giving" at certain times, but "as of now, [he doesn't] need that much parenting anymore."
"You know my intention isn't to hurt you. I just think that what needs to be said needs to be said, whether if it hurts or not," Jax said.
RELATED: Garcelle Beauvais' Son Jaid Went to Homecoming After Overcoming a Major Obstacle
Though Garcelle valued her son's words, they still hurt.
"I'm happy he's being honest, but it makes me feel like a failure," Garcelle said in an interview on the episode, though Jax noted on the beach that he thinks he "turned out fine."
"Listen, these boys, although they're twins, Jax and Jaid, they couldn't be more different," she added. "Back in the day, you didn't parent differently. My mom blanket parented all of us. But, nowadays, you have to look at the child... I didn't grow up like that."
Garcelle Beauvais Revisited the Conversation with Jaid and Jax at BravoCon 2023
During BravoCon 2023, a Los Angeles-based fan and fellow single mom asked Garcelle, "How are you navigating that and what place are you in now with your boys?"
"As a single mom, you know: we do the best we can," Garcelle replied. "It's really interesting because, when that scene happened it was obviously a knife to the heart. I thought I was doing a good job. Was I perfect? No. But because of that conversation and ongoing conversations Jax and I are in a better place. And I'm glad he did that because I don't know if we would have gotten there."
See more from Garcelle and her boys by tuning in to new episodes of RHOBH on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo. Stream episodes the next day on Peacock.
Originally published Oct 25, 2023.
