Gabrielle Reece, 46, has pretty much done it all. Not only is she a professional volleyball player, but she’s also an author, has modeled professionally, been an actress, and also a sports announcer. And the cool thing is, she’s raising her three daughters to go after their dreams too — no matter what that entails! But as of now, they’re super into sports!
Stopping by the HollywoodLife office for our podcast, Gabrielle revealed that while her kids aren’t “super babies,” they sure are “big strong girls” — aw! “We’re still working on, ‘Did you brush your teeth?’ and for them to say ‘please,’ the athlete admitted to HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. “But they are big strong girls. They are very active and love sports.”
Honestly though, there’s no surprise there. After all, their dad is famous surfer Laird Hamilton, 52. Together, Gabrielle and Laird have two little girls: Brody Jo Hamilton, 8, and Reece Viola Hamilton, 12. Their third child, Izabela, is from Laird’s previous marriage.
“Our oldest is in university and she is very bright,” Gabriella continued. “She is using her mind to make a living. Laird and I joke, we didn’t have that option. We played our cards that we had.” But does she think pro athletics is also in the cards for their kids? “We’ll see, it’s like if you push them as a parent, especially someone who knows what it takes, it’s never going to happen,” she explained.
“It really has to be something they get fired up on. That’s why I laugh when I see parents of soccer kids that are six years old. One percent of all kids leaving high school will get a college scholarship and one percent of those will become professional athletes. So I almost want to tell them to let their kids have fun.” And we can totally stand behind that philosophy! Looks like Gabrielle and Laird’s girls have PLENTY of that!
But being a pro athlete isn’t all fun and games. In fact, the v-ball star got her knee replaced three months ago, which was a difficult process to go through. And on top of that, Laird got his hip replaced the same day. “It was brutal, going in you’re afraid about not only recovering but also the pain medication afterwards,” she shared. But luckily Gabrielle found relief by partnering with Choices Matter & their site PlanAgainstPain.com.
“What people suffering and in a lot of pain may not realize is that there’s a big universe of non opioids drugs that can make you feel really comfortable — they can work those into their surgery plan,” Gabrielle said. “I feel like a big advocate of that. I see that the studies show one in 10 people inadvertently get addicted to or dependent on opioids, they prescribe 70 million patients a year.”
“It’s a great way to talk to their doctor about a plan for managing their pain after their surgery that doesn’t involve an opioid,” she added. There’s no question Gabrielle knows her stuff! Her daughters are certainly lucky to have her.
Tell us, HollywoodLifers — do you love how Gabrielle is raising her girls in an athletic household?