JoAnna Garcia Swisher on the Time Kevin Hart (and His Entourage!) Came to Her Rescue: 'I Was a Full-Blown Hot Mess'
JoAnna Garcia Swisher is a seasoned parent of two now, but there was a time she was just learning the ropes — including how to travel with an infant.
The Kevin (Probably) Saves the World star sat down with PEOPLE’s Celeb Parents Get Real recently, sharing that after she had just welcomed now-4-year-old daughter Emerson “Emme” Jay, she received some much-appreciated assistance from a famous face.
“I was in the airport, going through security, and things were not going well,” explains Garcia Swisher, 38. “I was in a full sweat … I couldn’t get the car seat through security, I had no shoes on, Emme was losing her mind. I was just a full-blown hot mess.”
“I look up, and Kevin Hart and all of his entourage were taking my car seat off of the security belt, putting it on the floor, putting my shoes on my feet,” the actress recalls. “It was a very sweet moment. I didn’t know who he was at the time, but I knew that everybody around me was super excited about him.”
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A post shared by JoAnna Garcia Swisher (@jogarciaswisher) on Jun 18, 2017 at 2:59pm PDT
“I was like, ‘God, that guy was my hero. He’s got the nicest people that he travels with. Who is he?’ It was Kevin Hart,” Garcia Swisher adds.
The Once Upon a Time star also shares 16-month-old daughter Sailor Stevie with husband Nick Swisher — and admits she misses one big thing about life before becoming a parent: “an endless supply of naps at any given moment.”
“I do miss my naps,” she says. “At work, I’ll shut all the lights off. I’ll tell our P.A. outside, ‘I just need to sleep for 15 minutes,’ and she’s like, ‘No one’s coming to your trailer.’ ”
A post shared by JoAnna Garcia Swisher (@jogarciaswisher) on Aug 21, 2017 at 2:51pm PDT
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree where Emerson is concerned. Garcia Swisher admits that her older daughter takes after her in some of the phrases she throws around.
“When Emme says something’s ‘unacceptable’ or disrespectful — she’s like, ‘Mommy that’s so unacceptable, isn’t it?’ And I’m like, ‘That’s me,’ ” the actress says.
Other ways her girls take after her? Emme’s dancing and Sailor’s “side-eye,” but there’s room for a few of Dad’s traits to manifest too. “The other day, Emme exhibited a small form of road rage,” shares Garcia Swisher. “She was like, ‘Are you kidding me, guy?!’ And I thought, ‘That’s my husband.’ “
