Mandy Moore says when life with three young children gets chaotic, the first person she wants to call is not a manager, a publicist or a friend. It is Kathy Goldsmith, her mother-in-law.
The 42-year-old actor said she and Kathy Goldsmith are “very close,” and that she is a huge part of the family’s support system with Gus, 5, Ozzie, 3, and Lou, 20 months. Moore said Goldsmith is so helpful with the kids that she is also the first person she would vent to, a role that has only become more important since Moore and Taylor Goldsmith lost their home in the historic Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025.
Moore said in July that Goldsmith “has risen to the occasion in every way” and that she was not sure what she would have done without her in the hours, days, weeks and months after the fire. She added that Goldsmith suffered her own immense loss and still stayed by the family’s side from the beginning “without skipping a beat.” Moore said, simply, that she and Taylor Goldsmith are “never letting her go.”
That support has been part of the backdrop to a year in which Moore has been balancing motherhood, grief and work. She and Taylor Goldsmith welcomed son August “Gus” Harrison in February 2021 and Oscar “Ozzie” Bennett Goldsmith in October 2022, and Moore later said in a 2023 Father’s Day message that she could not believe they get to do the parenthood journey together. Now she is raising three kids while also speaking publicly about the people holding the household together when things get hard.
Moore’s latest comments came as she promoted The Breadwinner, a new film in which she plays Katie, a character who finds massive success after appearing on Shark Tank. Moore said the movie is “a celebration of moms” who are often the unsung heroes of the family, while also turning the story around to show dads stepping into a new realm of responsibility and realizing how much work mom really does. She said it is “sweet” and feels like the classic family movies she grew up watching.
The Breadwinner opens in theaters May 29, giving Moore a new project to talk about at a moment when her private life is still shaped by the aftermath of the January fire. But her remarks make one thing clear: the person helping her keep the family upright is not a distant relative or an occasional helper. It is Kathy Goldsmith, whose presence has become part of the household’s daily survival and, by Moore’s account, something the family is not prepared to lose.
In Moore’s telling, the story is not just about resilience after disaster. It is about who shows up when the house is gone, the children are small and the pressure does not let up. On that measure, she says Goldsmith has already done more than enough.
