Vanderpump Rules alum Lala Kent is hopeful that her children, daughters Ocean and Sosa, won’t struggle with substance abuse issues in the future.
“What’s in [with Generation Z nowadays] is not drinking, which I freaking love. I hope that stays when my kids [grow up],” Kent, 34, said on the Friday, March 14, episode of her “Give Them Lala” podcast. “My biggest fear is I sit there and I’m watching these kids in junior high and high school and I’m like, ‘This is very much the time that they start experimenting, going to their friend’s house [and] maybe smoking a joint.’”
According to Kent, she sees via social media that many Gen Z teenagers proclaim they “don’t need to drink” to prioritize their health.
“I’m, like, ‘Let’s keep that. That’s great,’” Kent said. “[My brother] Easton and I are in the program, so there’s no telling if one of my girls picks up, you may have earned yourself a one-way ticket into an AA room.”
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Kent is mom to 3-year-old Ocean, whom she shares with ex-fiancé Randall Emmett, and 6-month-old Sosa, who was conceived via IUI and a sperm donor. Before embracing parenthood, Kent had been on a journey of sobriety.
“I’ve been sober for over six years,” Kent said on Friday’s episode. “It’s been great [because] drinking, when I think about it, takes me to a pretty dark place. I really started hitting the bottle hard — same with Easton — once our dad died.”
She continued, “I think about it, like, when my kids get to that point in time, I have to be very open with them [and say], ‘If you’re going to drink, there is no version of you driving, getting in the car with someone. Call me, I will ask zero questions — not one question. Just pick up the phone and I will be there; you don’t have to say a thing to me.”
According to Kent, creating an “open dialogue” with her children would give her peace of mind as they navigate their teenage and early adulthood years.
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“That’s what keeps me up at night — and Ocean turns 4 next weekend and Sosa is only 6 months,” Kent added.
Kent’s Friday podcast guest was Kelly Stafford, who concurred that having an “open dialogue” with her own parents was beneficial.
“I was a pretty good kid and that is because I had an open dialogue with my mom,” Stafford, 35, recalled. “I could ask her anything I wanted to and also tell her things that I would feel like most parents or most kids at my age during that time couldn’t tell their parents. … I did not want to disappoint her.”
