The actress shares her daughter, 5, and son, 3, with husband Sam Esmail
NEED TO KNOW
- Emmy Rossum revealed how she is teaching her daughter and son to “be their own best friend”
- The actress shares her two kids with husband Sam Esmail
- Rossum stars in the new Hulu series Furious, which premieres on July 27
Emmy Rossum is sharing an important lesson that she is teaching her kids.
During a recent PEOPLE in 10 interview, the actress, 38, spoke about why she has had to shift her internal dialogue since becoming a mother.
“I feel like they can read my mind sometimes,” she said of her daughter, 5, and son, 3, whom she shares with husband Sam Esmail. “So [I’m being] more careful about how I talk to myself in my head. Because I feel like they can get a vibe of how I treat myself.”
“And I think too much time online can cause us to be unkind to ourselves, through compare and despair,” Rossum continued. “So, I think it’s important to talk to ourselves kindly, to be our own best friend, because that’s what I want for my kids. I’m always going to be their best friend, but when I’m not here, I want them to have each other and be their own best friend.”
Credit: Emmy Rossum/Instagram
The Shameless star — who has been married to Esmail, 48, since 2017 — welcomed her daughter in May 2021 and her son in April 2023. She has not shared their names publicly.
Rossum has opened up about her motherhood experience over the years, including during a November 2024 appearance on the Today show.
“I love it, it’s incredible,” she shared at the time. “It’s such a journey … a responsibility of figuring out what kind of world do we want to leave for our children. How do we help shape them and give them the tools to survive on their own? To be confident and to embrace their uniqueness?”
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Rossum added that being a parent has taught her “generosity of spirit.” She explained, “Realizing that these little tiny humans … they need you.”
Credit: Lauren Menowitz/Shutterstock
More recently, Rossum spoke to PEOPLE about why she and Esmail, a film and TV screenwriter, producer and director, chose to raise their kids in New York City.
She said that when she and her husband met and fell in love on the Los Angeles set of their 2014 film, Comet, she asked him if he wanted to return to the East Coast.
“I was like, ‘Do you want to live in L.A.?’ And he said, ‘Oh no, do you?’ I was like, ‘No, no,’ ” she recalled. “He’s from Jersey, and I’m from New York, so it feels very right that we’re in the city.”
Since welcoming their daughter and son, Rossum said, they love that they have “been able to create a life for our kids in New York that’s grounded.”
In May 2022, Rossum shared how being a mom has helped expand her social network.
“She made all these friends at the park in the playground, so now I have mom friends, which is so nice,” she said of her daughter while appearing on Live with Kelly and Ryan. “So we’re going to have a music party with tambourines and cupcakes in the park.”
Rossum’s latest acting role will see her starring as FBI Agent Alice Black in the new Hulu series Furious. Alice “is on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating female serial killer,” per an official synopsis. “Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur.”
Furious, which also stars Jake Lacy, Lola Petticrew, Scoot McNairy and Quincy Tyler Bernstine, premieres on Hulu on July 27.
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