BABIESSamantha Harris' Return to the "Dance" Floor
Oct. 16 2007, Published 7:00 a.m. ET
Samantha Harris returned to her hostess duties on Monday’s
episode of Dancing with the Stars, a mere three weeks after having her first
child, daughter Josselyn. The hostess told OK! she couldn’t have done it
without the support of her financial wholesaler husband, Michael Hess.
Samantha said Michael “is fully, 100 percent, in the game
with me. We are partners sharing baby
duties—well, except for the breast-feeding part. Although he always says, if he
could nurse, he would! I appreciate the offer. I didn’t change a diaper for the
first five or six days that Josselyn was alive so it’s wonderful.”
After giving birth on Sept. 23 and having Drew Lachey fill
in for her during a brief maternity leave, Samantha is twirling around the
ballroom again. “It’s fantastic to be back,” Samantha said. “I truly love the
energy and excitement that this ballroom offers. As hard as it was to leave Joselyn tonight, I
know that I’m going to be even more excited to be home with her because
distance makes the heart grow fonder and even after an hour or two here or
there, I’m just clamoring to get home to be with her.”
Samantha admitted the separation anxiety is “tough but I
think it’s going to be harder going to work when she can talk and say, ‘Momma.
Don’t leave.’ At least when they’re in infancy, they don’t have a say. It’s
hard enough on me to not hear her say, ‘Don’t leave me.’”
Amazingly, the 33-year-old didn’t look like a woman who had just
given birth, crediting the “wonderful team” responsible for her glowing
post-partum look. “I have a great hairstylist and makeup artist that I’ve
worked with for a long time, and stylists who put these gorgeous dresses and
jewels on. For a woman who’s been at home in a ponytail with not a stitch of
makeup on for the last three weeks, it felt like, okay, I’m back!”
And she’s already made friends with the celebrity
contestants on the hit ABC reality show, including fellow new mom Mel B. The Spice Girl,
who had her daughter Angel, by Eddie Murphy in April, told OK!, “We just did
the whole baby talk thing about breastfeeding and sleeping times.”
