In the powerful docuseries Nuclear Family, Ry Russo-Young revisits her youth and the struggles her gay parents went through to keep their family together
There’s a supernatural element to motherhood that can’t be articulated, only experienced. Legend has it that imperiled babies can unlock untold reserves of mom-strength sufficient to lift a car, but the emotional equivalent is far more commonplace. New parents will talk about how the bond with their offspring cannot possibly be comprehended by those outside of it, how caring for another human being creates a love connection of an intensity beyond what they previously believed possible. The heart expands.
“As someone who didn’t necessarily know that I wanted to have children for so many years, I was always skeptical when I heard parents say that,” film-maker Ry Russo-Young tells the Guardian over the phone from her office in Los Angeles. “‘Oh, you and your holier-than-thou parental club.’ It seemed a little precious to me. Being completely honest, before I had kids, I was the center of my universe. After I had kids, I had no choice but to make them the center of my universe. That has humbled me, and I think made me a better person. I think about other people more deeply, their points of view, as opposed to just my own.”
