Angela Bassett has been in a transitional period for the past couple of months.
Last fall, the 9-1-1 star and her husband Courtney B. Vance, who has been the President of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation since 2019, officially became empty nesters.
The couple has been married since 1997, and after years of trying IVF, they welcomed fraternal twins Bronwyn Golden Vance and Slater Josiah Vance via surrogate in 2006 — and they are now all grown up and off at college.
Angela, speaking exclusively with HELLO! at the world premiere of her new Netflix series Zero Day in New York City, opened up about how she and her husband have coped in their new era.
"It's a great, big transition for them," she first said, noting: "But I think you underestimate the transition that it is for you."
She went on: "You think you're gonna cry. That's all everyone ever talks about, dropping them off at college and saying goodbye," adding: "But it's about going home in the house now, not hearing their voice, their energy not coming through."
© Emma McIntyreThe doting mom further shared that she and Courtney, who are largely based in Los Angeles, have one of those digital frames that recycles through old photos, and admitted: "Sometimes I just get caught looking at all the different stages, and you just 'oh and ah,' and I really have to tell Courtney, 'Please turn it off!' I can't get anything done."
"Because you just remember the love," she said. "18 years and you're back to old places, what it was before they arrived. 'It's you, me and the dog.'"
© VALERIE MACONStill, she continued: "But I remember how exciting it was for me when I was that age. So, you know, I support them in that," and noted: "It also gives me freedom to not have all of that mommy guilt that I used to have, getting going to work, being at work, five in the morning, coming back long after they have gone to sleep, and days without seeing them. Even though you're living in the same home."
© Getty ImagesLast week was Angela and Courtney's first Valentine's Day without the kids at home, but they'll have to find another special occasion to celebrate their empty nester status.
© Getty Images"Oh Lord, we were separated, so Courtney actually went and took [Bronwyn] to dinner at school," she revealed to us, adding that meanwhile, she was figuring out how to deliver fresh cupcakes to her family packed in dry ice.
Her new show Zero Day, which also stars Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemmons, Lizzy Caplan, Connie Britton, Joan Allen, Dan Stevens, Clark Gregg, and Matthew Modine, among others, is out on Netflix February 20.
