Alicia Quarles has her hands full these days — both of them, at all hours of the day and night.
The journalist andGMA3contributor is mom to 3-month-old fraternal twins, son Hudson and daughter Harlow, whom she shares with a former partner who prefers to remain anonymous.
But a year ago, Quarles wasn’t nearly in such a peaceful place. Known for her poise, upbeat personality and knack for getting celebrities to drop their guard during interviews, she gave her family, friends and 105,000 followers a tremendous scare back on August 26, 2022.
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Alicia Quarles with twins Hudson and Harlow.Alycee Byrd
Alycee Byrd
The journalist went live on Instagram from her rummaged-through apartment, frantically revealing she was pregnant while in the midst of an extreme anxiety attack. The livestream ended with police officers trying to enter her apartment to carry out a mental health check. She was later arrested and released to a medical facility.
At the time, “I’d been working three jobs, doing my charity obligations and going nonstop,” says Quarles, who had also just been through a breakup.
“My mental health was deteriorating.” She reveals that just a couple weeks prior to the ordeal, she’d taken herself to the emergency room. “I was feeling afraid,” she recalls. “I’d went to the ER just to see if I was okay.”
Alicia Quarles and son Hudson.Alycee Byrd
Only a week later, Quarles learned that she was expecting twins, but instead of that news adding to her anxiety, “a total peace came over me and it felt like it all made sense,” she says. “It was like, ‘Okay, I went through that to get to this.' ”
Quarles returned to her family home in North Carolina to focus on her pregnancy and on herself.
Alicia Quarles and daughter Harlow.Alycee Byrd
She continues, “I used to feel guilty and embarrassed but I don’t anymore. My message is you can fall down, things happen. It’s how you come back.”
Now, even as she grieves the sudden loss of her mother Terry Linda Quarles, who died of complications from a fall last month, Quarles is focused on the positive. “I truly believe that my babies saved my life,” she says. “If I kept going at the pace I was, I wouldn’t have been here for long.”
For more on Alicia Quarles opening up about her mental health crisis and motherhood journey, pick up this week’s issue ofPEOPLE, out Friday.
source: people.com
