Celebrity Parents Who've Talked About Potty Training
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Ah, potty training — it’s the best of times and the worst of times, and even celebrity parents go through the circus show that is getting your kid to go to the bathroom in the toilet. Though the transition from diapers to the porcelain throne is a breeze for some children, it’s more often than not a lengthy process that requires a lot of patience — and M&Ms, if you’re anything like Shawn Johnson East, Rebecca Romijn, and other celebs.
Potty training strategies are wildly different depending on the child — some kids, like Busy Philipps’ eldest daughter, phase out diapers in favor of the toilet without question. The Freaks & Geeks alum told MomTrends in 2017, “My older daughter was so easy — she wore Pull-Ups, and I don’t even think we finished a full package.”
And then there are kids like Kristen Bell’s youngest daughter, who was still wearing diapers when she was 5 years old. During an episode of her podcast, the actress recalled how easy it was to get her eldest to use the toilet — all Bell had to do was suggest her daughter do so. She recalled, “We were lying in bed giggling about this, my husband and I, like, ‘Why does everyone make a big deal out of this potty training? It’s so easy. Just tell the kid to use the toilet.'” The mom of two added, “Currently, my youngest is 5 and a half, still in diapers.”
Every kid is different, and there are tons of potty training tips and strategies to utilize to see which methods work best for your child as they adjust to the foreign method of going pee or poop in a toilet. To help other parents who may or may not be exclaiming “Sh*t!” a little more than usual, these celeb moms and dads have opened up about their potty training experiences, from the miraculous to the downright messy.
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Drew Scott
As of February 2024, Drew Scott and his wife Linda Phan were in the trenches of potty training their son Parker. To give their fans an update on how it was going, the HGTV star shared a hilarious and all-too-relatable Reel on Instagram.
Playing the part of both himself and Parker, Scott’s video begins with him asking his son if he needs to pee. Reenacting his son’s resistance to using the toilet, Scott yells, “No!” After going back and forth with Parker insisting he does not have to pee, Scott’s video cuts to “5 seconds later” with Parker peeing — not in the toilet, but mere inches in front of it. Yep, that tracks.
“Potty training is going great 🤪 #ParentingBeLike #parenting,” the Property Brothers co-host captioned the parody video.
Rumer Willis
In January 2024, Rumer Willis appeared on an episode of The Village podcast, during which she opened up about using elimination communication to potty train her daughter Louetta. The Dancing with the Stars champion explained, “[She would] make these funny faces and she would start to furrow her brow and her mouth would look like she was sucking on a straw. And then, I would hear her poop and it was super loud. So then we got this little potty and when she would make the face, we would just pull her diaper off and sit her on it.”
Willis continued, “Now if I can catch it, it’s so delightful. Babies have bodily awareness, so they don’t want to poop themselves.” She added, “We train them out of it by putting them in diapers and look, there’s no way I can catch all of her pees. They don’t make a cue for it, or maybe they do if you’re super, super aware. But I try to get as many as I can and it’s awesome. I think it’s so great.”
Brittany Mahomes
After her daughter Sterling had her first accident-free outing in August 2023, Brittany Mahomes shared a few potty training tips with her Instagram followers. In her list, the mom of two wrote, “No pants; not being forceful, allowing it to be more her decision; constantly reminding her ‘Sterling your potty is right there if you need to go potty;’ being stern and letting her know you are serious when necessary and telling her she cannot go to the potty anywhere but her potty; never taking my eyes off her lol; keeping a potty in her sight at all times.”
Mahomes added, “Took about a week for us! But please remember every child is different, none of this may work for your kiddo and some of it may!”
Shawn Johnson East
After successfully potty training her daughter Drew, Shawn Johnson East shared her “potty training tips” with her Instagram followers. In 2022, the Olympian gymnast wrote on her Story, “Potty training tips! I learned from my friend!” Step one? “Rip off the diaper. Cold turkey.” Step two? “Put on underwear.” And most importantly, step three: “Jar of m&ms next to big girl potty. Reward with m&m after every successful mission hahahaha.”
Erin & bEN Napier
Home Town hosts Erin and Ben Napier had to wait for their eldest daughter to come around to the idea of using the toilet on her own. The couple told Us Weekly, “It was like we were trying so hard to get her to do it and to get it to click and she just was fighting us.”
Ben continued, “Then one day she woke up and she said, ‘I need to go potty, Daddy,’ and I was like, ‘OK let’s do this.’ And since then, she’s been good! I guess it had to be on her terms.”
Khloé Kardashian
When asked how potty training was going with her daughter True during a June 2020 Instagram Live video, Khloé Kardashian shared, “We have, like, an hour routine. Every hour, I just put her on the potty and we make it exciting and she looks forward to it. I don’t believe in bribing, I believe in incentives. That’s my technique currently,” the reality star explained.
Kristen Bell
During a May 2020 episode of her podcast, Momsplaining With Kristen Bell, the Frozen star emphasized how potty training can be wildly different for every child — including her own. Bell shared, “My oldest daughter, at 21 months, we merely suggested that she use the toilet in the other room and [she] never wore another diaper beyond that.”
The Good Place alum confessed how tickled she and her husband, fellow actor Dax Shepard, felt about the easy transition. “We were lying in bed giggling about this, my husband and I, like, ‘Why does everyone make a big deal out of this potty training? It’s so easy. Just tell the kid to use the toilet.'”
The universe humbled the couple when their second daughter came around — Bell went on to say, “Currently, my youngest is 5 and a half, still in diapers.”
Serena Williams
In 2019, Serena Williams updated POPSUGAR on how her potty-training efforts with her daughter Olympia were going. The tennis legend shared, “Today I tried — I’m trying — to potty train her as my next challenge. She’s working on it, and she just pulled her own pants up, and I was like, ‘Oh my god this is so great.’ She wasn’t doing that even a week ago,” the proud mom gushed. In potty training, it’s all about those little wins.
Chrissy Teigen
When John Legend’s 2018 concert tour coincided with their daughter Luna’s potty training, Chrissy Teigen was notabout to let a little global jet-setting get in the way. In fact, the cookbook author shared a photo on her Instagram Story of herself hilariously posing in a hotel hallway holding not just Luna, but a portable mini toilet. “Potty training on tour,” Teigen aptly captioned the funny shot.
Busy Philipps
During a 2017 interview with MomTrends, Busy Philipps opened up about the differences in potty training her eldest daughter, Birdie, and her youngest, Cricket. The White Chicks actress told the outlet, “My older daughter was so easy — she wore Pull-Ups, and I don’t even think we finished a full package. She was so ready to do it, and early — she was about two-and-a-half.” Philipps admitted, “I felt very smug about things, and then my second came along!”
The mom of two continued, “My little one Cricket was not having it. There was a lot of discussion about it. We tried all kinds of things. We even found out she doesn’t like chocolate, because she didn’t want M&Ms. So then we went to jelly beans, we did stickers, we made a chart.”
Beyond fun bribes, Philipps also recalled swapping her chosen potty for one Cricket chose herself. “I had a really pretty, streamlined not-ugly potty, and she hated it,” the Mean Girls actress shared. “So we took her to the toy store and she picked out the giant Elmo potty where it flushes and he cheers for you, and that worked a little bit.”
Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff reminisced on the first time she potty trained one of her kids during a conversation with Babble. “My son [Luca] potty trained really easily,” the How I Met Your Father star confessed. “I was so lucky. I didn’t push it. I just waited until he started to show an interest in it and kind of told him that his older cooler cousins are all potty-trained. And it worked! He’s been a really easy kid so far. He can have his moments, for sure, but I want him to have a strong personality. It’ll serve him right some day.”
Kristin Cavallari
If you’ve ever had to do something completely ridiculous to get your kid to stay on the toilet, rest assured that even Kristin Cavallari has been there. In March 2016, the Laguna Beach alum told Us Weekly, “We’re in the middle of potty training our son Jaxon right now. This morning … he’s naked and he goes, ‘My tummy hurts, my tummy hurts,’ so I put him on the potty, and he’s wanting me to hold him. I’m like hugging him on his little potty while he’s pooping. It’s really glamorous,” Cavallari deadpanned.
In a blog post for Momtastic the previous month, The Hills star shared her top five tips for potty training. Cavallari and her ex-husband Jay Cutler found it helpful to “lead by example” with their eldest son. “When we were potty training Camden, Jay would take him to the bathroom and go in front of him,” she wrote.
The Uncommon James founder continued, “It definitely got Camden interested in using the potty. But full disclaimer: Camden knew how to pee in a bush or on the grass before he knew how to pee in the toilet! That’s really what Jay taught him how to do.” Cavallari hilariously shared, “People would be over in the backyard and Camden would just pull his pants down and start peeing in the grass. The only thing I could do was laugh. Baby steps, right?”
Jaime King
Jaime King assured non-famous mothers that there’s “no magic fix” for potty training as a celeb mama. In 2016, the Ocean’s Eight actress told The Fab Mom, “I’m just like any other busy working mom and I was totally nervous to start potty training. It’s such a big moment for toddlers — it marks the time when your little one becomes a big kid and it’s a huge change in their life, so parents who are feeling overwhelmed are definitely not alone!”
Reese Witherspoon
When the 2015 Golden Globe awards coincided with Reese Witherspoon’s efforts to potty train her youngest child, Tennessee, she made sure the world was aware that her life wasn’t all glitz and glamour. During a chat on the red carpet with Entertainment Tonight, the movie star said, “As we speak there is potty training going on — I want to make sure everyone knows amidst all this going on, we are still just regular people.”
Of how potty training her son was going, Witherspoon shared, “It’s okay. Today we’re winning — yesterday, not.” Fellow potty training parents know just how real the rollercoaster process can be!
Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone utilized elimination communication when potty training her son Bear, and after opening up about her experience in her book The Kind Mama, the Clue actress caught up with People to chat further about the potty training method.
“Just like your baby tells you it needs to eat or it’s tired, they tell you when they need to go to the bathroom,” Silverstone explained. “If you pay attention, they actually have a pause button and will give you enough time to get to a place that makes it comfortable for them to go.” She added, “It’s amazing. It’s the most natural, primal thing.”
'The Kind Mama' by Alicia Silverstone
Rebecca Romijn
During an episode of The Talk, Rebecca Romijn made a confession about one of her tricks for potty training. The X-Men star began, “I’m doing something that I shouldn’t be doing, which is bribing them with M&Ms. But it’s do or die at this point!”
Romijn ensured it wasn’t a candy extravaganza though. The mom of two continued, “I’m like, ‘If you go pee pee on the potty, you get an M&M,’ and they keep going, ‘On a plate?’ So every time they go I get the biggest plate I can find and put one M&M in the middle of it.”
Mayim Bialik
Like Rumer Willis and Alicia Silverstone, Mayim Bialik potty trained her son using the elimination communication method. The Big Bang Theory alum told Today in August 2011, “Before he could crawl, walk, or talk, he signed reliably when he had to use the potty. By 12 months of age, he stopped peeing in his cloth diaper. By 17 months he was wearing tiny underwear and, now almost 6, he has no conscious memory of ever pooping in a diaper or of wearing diapers at all.”
Potty-Training-14
“As a parent, you are always hungry for advice, but especially when it comes to potty training,” Melissa Joan Hart told People in 2009. “That’s the one time nobody tries to pretend they’re the expert, and parents will try just about anything,” she said. The Sabrina the Teenage Witch star added “With potty training, there isn’t really a right or wrong way to teach your child, it’s just whatever works for him.”
