The former Voice coach shares her eldest child with her now-ex-husband, Jordan Bratman. Max arrived in 2008, three years after his parents’ California wedding. The former couple split in 2010.

After finalizing their divorce the following year, the “Genie in a Bottle” singer moved on with Matthew Rutler. The actress met the guitarist on the set of Burlesque. They got engaged in February 2014 and welcomed Summer six months later.

By 2016, the New York native was not in a rush to wed Rutler. “We discuss it when we’re snuggling in bed, but it’s a casual conversation,” Aguilera explained to Women’s Health at the time.

The songwriter went on to gush about their daughter, saying she should have named the little one Joy for the way that she “just lights up a room and she illuminates brightness and happiness.”

Aguilera called parenting “the ultimate joy” at the time but spoke candidly of the highs and lows. “I love my kids, but women have to find time to nurture themselves,” she explained. “If someone has a baby, the first thing I’m like is, ‘OK, are you taking care of you?’ Mothers are constantly expected to be the nurturers, the givers, the providers of a comfortable home. We’re expected to be pregnant, have the kids, breast-feed once we have the babies. And we’re expected to look amazing after baby, right? Keep our husbands and boyfriends interested — because we’re supposed to get back to [being] sexy and keep things exciting in the bedroom. There’s such a long list.”

The Mickey Mouse Club alum elaborated on the responsibility of parenting in September 2019, telling Haute Living: “Everything I’ve pretty much decided to do has been influenced by [my kids], but at the same time, I need to make sure that I don’t lose myself and that I always stay grounded in what’s important for me. Because that’s part of the example I want to impose on them: to follow your heart and not lose yourself when life changes.”

Aguilera noted that she doesn’t see herself having more kids in the future. “What the universe thinks will be, will be,” she told the outlet at the time. “Who knows what’s in the future? But as of now, [I’m not planning on expanding].”

Keep scrolling to read the rest of the Grammy winner’s quotes about raising her children over the years, from coparenting to bedtime rituals.

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This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Riley Cardoza