Holly Robinson Peete and Her Husband's Marriage Is the Stuff of Hallmark Movies
If you think you've seen the star of Hallmark's movie, Christmas In Evergreen, many times before, you'd be right: Holly Robinson Peete has had a long career on television, in both scripted and reality shows. She's appeared on everything from 21 Jump Street and The Young and The Restless to The Talk. Here’s a quick rundown of everything you should know about Holly.
This is not her first Hallmark movie.
Earlier this year, Holly starred in two Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Original Movies: Morning Show Mysteries: Mortal Mishaps, and Morning Show Mysteries: Murder on the Menu. She and her husband Rodney also have their own family docu-series on Hallmark, Meet the Peetes, which chronicles their life as they try to balance two careers, running a charity, and raising four children. Meet the Peetes will return for season two next year.
She has television in her blood.
Holly's father, Matthew Robinson, was an original producer on Sesame Street, and played the beloved role of Gordon in its first three seasons. So, it’s perhaps no surprise that Holly was drawn to television herself, and has enjoyed a long career on the small screen since the 1980s. She's starred in Fox’s iconic drama 21 Jump Street, ABC’s sitcom Hangin’ With Mr Cooper, and NBC’s For Your Love. More recently, Holly has appeared in The Celebrity Apprentice, Mike & Molly and Chicago PD. Holly was also one of the original co-hosts of The Talk alongside Leah Remini.
Her husband is a former NFL star.
In 1995, Holly married Rodney, then a quarterback playing in the NFL. The couple have four children together: Ryan Elizabeth, Rodney Jr, Robinson, and Roman. In an interview with Essence two years ago, Rodney described the moment when he first fell for Holly: “She put hot sauce on her fries,” he said of their first dinner together with mutual friends. “I knew she felt comfortable around me as she stuffed her face with food.”
Having now been married for more than two decades, the couple also revealed that counseling has been crucial in their relationship. “From the beginning Rodney was willing to sit down with a counselor,” Holly told the outlet. “We sat down with an objective third party, and that was crucial in the early days of our relationship, with our busy schedules. We still have our counselor in our lives.”
She’s a passionate advocate for autism awareness.
Holly's 2010 children’s book My Brother Charlie has won numerous awards, including the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award and an NAACP Image Award. Written in tandem with her daughter, Ryan Elizabeth, the book describes the experience of living with an autistic child, based on Holly's own experience with her 10-year-old son Rodney Jr, who was diagnosed with autism as a toddler.
“When we got that news, I curled up for almost two weeks with the curtains down. In those days they gave you no hope,” she told Essence. Rodney added that he reacted to the news “like a typical man. It was a blow to my manhood… I was stuck on ‘I’m going to fix my son.’”
Finally, he said, a frustrated Holly gave him an ultimatum. “Get on board or get out of the way, which means leave," he said. "My family was most important, so I got on board. Once I understood that I didn’t have to change him, everything was going to be okay. She deserves all the credit for that. That was the biggest obstacle we had to overcome and it brought us closer.”
In 1997, Holly and Rodney founded the HollyRod Foundation, a charity dedicated to raising funds to fight Parkinson’s disease and autism.
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