I enjoy Sherri Shepherd as an actress. I think Trial and Error was such an underrated show and she was great on it. I didn’t watch her much when she was on The View. I guess I have a second chance at seeing her in action because it’s been announced that she’s getting a new talk show, Sherri, to fill the The Wendy Williams Show time slot. Sherri will also serve as an executive producer. As EP, one of her first tasks was finding a job for her 17-year-old son, Jefferey Tarpley, Jr., which will allow Sherry to spend as much time with him as she can. Now that Jeffrey is getting close to leaving the nest, Sherri is wondering where time went.
Sherri Shepherd is an open book.
The former The View co-host, 55, appeared on Friday’s episode of the PEOPLE Every Day podcast where she talked about her experience being a mom in the spotlight and her excitement about her own new daytime talk show.
When she was offered the role, Shepherd had one thing in mind: her son Jeffrey Tarpley Jr., 17. ” I was like, ‘Can my son get a job at the show?’ That’s the first thing I thought,” she says. “Now this boy is going to be a working and contributing to my household.”
Shepherd, who is a single mom, also embraced the hours of the show to allow her more time with her teen. “Doing a daytime talk show is such a great thing for me because we do it and I’m off by a certain time,” she says. “Now I still gotta do my research and all of that, but I still can be home.”
With that said, the excitement of spending more time together might not be totally mutual. “I don’t know if he really will want me at his extracurricular activities,” the comedian says, joking that her son has been planning his move away from home pretty much since high schools started. “He is trying to find his independence as a young man and I support that.”
Though Shepherd says she sometimes thinks, “Where did all my time with my child go?,” she’s proud of the young man he’s turning out to be.
“He’s got a very dry sense of humor, he’s funny as all get up and he’s a compassionate person,” she said. “[With] boys it’s raising them to be respectful and to be compassionate. Those are the qualities that I want.”
Parenting for Shepherd, like most parents, has been far from easy. “Being a mother is the biggest accomplishment that I’ve ever had in my life,” she says. “It’s also my biggest insecurity because I always feel like I’m doing it wrong.”
But she hopes that following her own dreams will encourage Jeffrey to do the same: “I’m hoping that my son will see that I am doing what I love and then he will pursue his passion because he sees that his mom is doing it. And I try not to take on that guilt.”
Since CB and I both have 17-year-old sons, we kind of get what Sherri is saying here. For me, it’s not that the time flew by like everyone talks about. But I am grappling with the idea that he will not be living under my roof anymore. That’s an existence I can’t seem to remember. I understand why Sherri wanted to find Jeffrey a job on her show, so she could see him and still work and secure a future for the both of them. And bonus if he gets some work experience to add to his CV. I know that Jeffrey’s father tried to make Sherri feel bad as a mother when Jeffrey was younger, I’m glad she’s allowed to enjoy their time together now.
I also know that Jeffrey is not the only child Sherri supports financially and that many of you are going to ask why she isn’t worried about the time she’s missing with her ex-husband, Lamar Sally’s son. That’s such a quagmire and I don’t know how to weigh in on it. Obviously Sherri is financially responsible but I have always been uncomfortable with Lamar dumping Sherri and filing for divorce the minute the surrogate was pregnant, which Sherri also paid for.
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She is just gorgeous. I m glad she is getting her own talk show. And i can totally relate. As soon as my son is old enough i would love if he got an internship where i worked only so i can spend more time with him before he leaves the nest. they grow so fast!
My son is 16 and just started driving himself to school. He should still be in kindergarten in my perception of time! I told him he can get a job if he wants to but he doesn’t have to as long as he is focusing on school and sports. And he can live with me as long as he wants to, so he can save money. I left home at 18 and never went back and I kind of regret missing a few extra years being with my folks.
Thet Lamar guy is/was a con-artist of the worst kind.
If I remember correctly he insisted that in their pre-nuptial contrat that;
– firstly, it was stated that Sherri was during the marriage not to gain yoo much weight – because we all know a woman’s value decreases with her weight, right?
– and that secondly, he was to be considered as the “man of the household ” ……ALL that coming from an overweight quasi-unemployed man.
What happened was that, despite her many accomplisjments as a black woman, she met Lamar at a time where she felt down, insecure…not to say desperate.
That con-artist marked her and wiggled unto her life with the hopes of making a hefty profits on her insecurities.
What an absolutely disgusting man. My ex-husband told me that if I gained too much weight, he would divorce me. He also told me, at my discovery of his affair in our home city, that he needs sex everyday and since he was gone M-F, he was going to get it EVEN though we were married!!
As for Sherri, I am glad that her son is going to work with her, their time together will be a lovely moment for him later. But she has come out on top from her disgusting ex-husband! I don’t watch talk shows but I wish she acted more.
My son is 12 and I’m already feeling like my time with him is so short. 😥
My daughter is 17. It’s a really tough age. I love the pic with her and her son. He looks a little embarrassed to be taking a pic with his mom. So relatable!
Hectate, I loved Trial and Error, too: Sherri was the best on that show! She’s a really good comedic actress.
I don’t know. I’ve always found her to be extremely feminine and very pretty.