How Tamera Mowry Relates to Her Scouting for Christmas Character

Tamera Mowry-Housley is proud of how her latest Hallmark Christmas movie role teaches an important lesson about motherhood.

Mowry-Housley, 46, stars as busy single mom Angela in the new movie Scouting for Christmas, which premiered on Hallmark Channel on Sunday, October 20. Unlike some of the movie’s other characters, Mowry-Housley said Angela doesn’t fit into the “Pinterest mom” mold.

“I remember seeing this mom at the grocery store, like, 7:30 in the morning or something. Her hair was all blown out, her nails done, her clothes — and I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing. That’s amazing that you can look like that,’” she exclusively told Us Weekly while chatting about the film. “Or the stroller that doesn’t have one crumb in it. It’s like, ‘It’s perfect. Do you wash it every night? Like, what? That’s amazing.’”

Mowry-Housley began to choke up while explaining to Us how Angela learns to not compare herself to other parents. “I love that in that moment, first she said, ‘If you’re that kind of mom, great, that’s wonderful’ — Oh, I’m getting emotional. Oh my gosh. I don’t know why,” she said, recalling that the character adds, “‘Please don’t judge us moms who aren’t.’”

Wiping away a tear, Mowry-Housley continued: “I loved that scene because of that. She said, ‘I know that there are other moms who think that I can’t do this, I can’t do that, but I’m doing my best.’ And you can see that. You can see that with Angela. That’s her No. 1 goal. I have no idea why I got emotional about that.”

In Scouting for Christmas, Angela struggles to find time with her 10-year-old daughter, Brooklyn (Audrey Wise Alvarez), following her divorce from her ex-husband, Dakota (James Paladino). Things take a romantic turn when Brooklyn pushes Angela to work with local baker William (Carlo Marks) to cater her scouting troop’s annual holiday party. When Dakota returns to town, Angela is forced to decide not only what’s best for her heart, but what’s best for her and her daughter.

The business of being a working mom is something Mowry-Housley relates to as a mother of two. “My kid, actually, we dropped him off at school with no shoes on,” she quipped. “It’s happened more than once, ironically, where we’ve been down the street and we’ve had to turn around and we’ve been late. But my kid was at school and we were like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Well, we got to go to Marshalls. We got to go.’”

Mowry-Housley — who shares son Aden, 11, and daughter Ariah, 9, with her husband, Adam Housley — added: “The beauty of motherhood and expressing that in movies like this is realizing you’re not alone, realizing that it happens. And as long as you’re doing your best, you’re trying and your children feel loved, that’s the No. 1 thing.”

Like her Scouting for Christmas character, Mowry-Housley also learned over time that it’s OK to ask for help. “I was just tired. I was exhausted. And when you are tired and exhausted, you can’t be the best mom, the best wife, the best friend, the best sister. You just can’t,” she told Us. “And I learned that there is strength in asking for help, and it doesn’t make you weak. It actually makes you stronger and it takes a village, and that’s what you see in this film as well.”

According to Mowry-Housley, Angela’s “village” includes her best friend, ex-husband and new love interest. “I love that there’s a love triangle,” she gushed. “And even with William the baker, even though you can see that chemistry, that connection, her No. 1 priority is to make sure that her daughter’s OK with this.”

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi