A working mom with her own hit talk show, Sherri, and a thriving Two Funny Mamas podcast, Sherri Shepherd knows busy like the back of her hand. But at 57 years young, Sherri says she has started prioritizing self-care, exercise, healthy eating and reducing worry—and it has made a world of difference in her stress levels.
She also finds joy in giving back as a QVC Q50 Ambassador who helps women 50+ celebrate their endless possibilities, and as a representative for Pfizer’s “This Is Your Shot” campaign that raises awareness about pneumococcal pneumonia risks for those with diabetes. “Diabetes isn’t something you can leave to chance,” says Sherri as our FIRST for Women cover girl (get your copy here!), who was diagnosed with type 2 in 2007. “When I’m not eating right, I don’t feel good and I don’t smile. You have to be intentional about doing things.” Here, Sherri shares how keeping her health and joy at the forefront of everything helps her keep her megawatt smile—and stay firing on all cylinders.
FIRST for Women: How have you managed your diabetes diagnosis?
Sherri Shepherd: I have found that if I’m not intentional about finding some healthy snacks, like a handful of almonds instead of some chocolate, it affects my mood for the whole day. I know when I’m not eating right and then I don’t feel good and don’t smile.
I’ve also learned about blueberries and how healthy they are. So I made for the first time cottage cheese and put in some blueberries and some cinnamon. Even though I love watermelon and mangoes, grapes, I just can’t eat too many of them because it raises my glucose level and I get dizzy and not present, lightheaded and irritable. And I’m not smiling.
FFW: What kind of breakfast do you start your day off with?
SS: I fast instead about ‘till 12 o’clock. I just say to myself that I need to treat my body a little bit better. I have mushroom coffee with almond milk. And because I’m at someone’s house, this morning, I had eggs and bacon—some protein.
FFW: Is mushroom your coffee of choice?
SS: A girlfriend told me that it gives you energy and clarity, and it does and did. So I go to Whole Foods and buy this mushroom coffee and it makes me feel good.
FFW: What are your media comforts—TV, books, music?
I don’t watch TV much when I’m working, but this past summer was my summer of “no” and I felt great. I did one movie. So I binged some TV and watched From, I finished Your Honor, I finished House of the Dragon and I’m about to start Godfather of Harlem and love it. I don’t really have much time to sit and read and I don’t like having to find my reading glasses all the time to see the words, so I got myself a Kindle because you can zoom in and make anything large.
FFW: You say that saying no is a stress reliever…
SS: I literally have not taken a vacation in years and this summer I was going to work on a series and I said, you know what, I’m exhausted. I said no. I’ve given so much to my talk show and I love it, but it’s draining. So to go into work right away, I had to listen to my body and I needed to sit down.
FFW: Where does your confidence come from?
SS: I’d say my self-confidence, in part, comes from my son, Jeffrey, because I’ve had to learn to advocate for him because my son is on the spectrum. I had to teach my son to advocate for himself because he won’t do it until he sees me do it. He’s 19 now. He has a hard time speaking up and I have to show him it’s okay to speak up.
FFW: Who or what made you laugh out loud last?
SS: OMG. It was my son. He had been away from me for 35 days as a camp counselor and in LA and I called ‘cause I’m his mother. He had ordered lunch and I called him and he answered me and I said, “I just want to see how you’re doing.” He said, “Mom, I don’t bother you when you are eating lunch,” and I had to laugh. He said, “Dad never calls me—he lets me go around Hollywood with my girlfriend,” and I’m sitting there and panicking. But he made me laugh. I felt good because he had his independence and everything was okay.
FFW: Do you still believe in the mantra “Breathe, believe and do”? You said that helps you run towards the very thing that you might fear because on the other side of fear are so many blessings. So what’s the last thing you feared and what was the blessing on the other side?
SS: My biggest fear is Jeffrey, and anybody who knows me how protective I am of my son. So to let him leave me for a month and a half to stay with his dad and I don’t call him—on the other side of the country—and his dad’s thoughts: If he gets lost, he’ll find his way back. So that was very hard for me.
He had to call an Uber by himself and his father let him walk through Hollywood and I’m thinking, this is a young Black man, 19, and his brain processes differently, but I had to let go. The blessing on the other side was that he achieved so much independence. He takes an Uber everywhere in New York, walks to the deli by himself…He’s self-sufficient in so many ways now. I had to let him go and trust that the God who created him knows him better than me.
FFW: You thank God for three things every morning—what were the three things today?
SS: When I woke up, I thanked God for giving me another chance to get it together with my health I kind of relaxed about eating this summer. Sometimes I didn’t eat the right protein, and I’m thankful he’s given me another chance. At 57, I’m feeling good. And I thanked him that he has given me a career, given me another chance at my career and that I’m doing something that I love.
So many people are doing things that they hate but have to do because they have to take care of their family and pay the bills. I’m thankful for this gift he’s given me, and that it’s a blessing for other people as well. I got an email from a salesperson at Anthropologie, and she wanted tickets to the show, so I gave her my personal email. She grabbed me in a big hug and apologized for hugging me, but I said it gave me joy because whatever I’m doing on the talk show, it has touched you beyond the TV, so your touch meant something.
I said it did more for me than I did for you. So that’s another thing I thanked him for, that I could make people feel better. And the third thing, thank you for giving me so much joy. I love being a joyful person and I think the world would be a better place if we had more love and joy. Then I got up, put on my gospel music and I walked, and I had walked four miles. I’m thankful for Jeffrey, my son, my prized gift of my life.
