Beyond Meekah. Beyond Blippi. Beyond Mom. Who Is Kaitlin Becker? (E58)

Ep. 1

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[00:00:00] Motherhood has a way of reshaping everything, your priorities, your routines, even the way you see yourself. And for my guest today, that shift happened while balancing life in front of millions of preschoolers.

Today's guest might be just one of your favorite people and definitely one of your kids' favorite people to watch on tv. Kaitlin Becker, the amazing actress behind the original Meekah, Blippi's best friend is here with me today.

You might know her from your living room TV screen. But today we're going beyond the bright colors and preschool magic.

We're pulling the curtain on her own motherhood journey. The surprises, the struggles, and the moments that changed her.

You know how your kids have that one character, they just light up for? The one who can make them stop mid [00:01:00] tantrum and sit through an entire episode without asking for a snack. Well, today I am talking to the woman behind one of those magic making characters.

Kaitlyn Becker, the amazing actress behind the original Meekah character from Blippi is here.

And while you might know her from your TV screen, there's so much more to her story. She's an Emmy nominated performer who's done everything from singing with Michelle Obama to hosting live preschool tv, and today we're going behind the scenes.

I want you to meet Kaitlin, the mom.

When her son Everett came into the picture, she, like all of us, found herself navigating a whole new role of motherhood . In this conversation, she is sharing the very real side of becoming a mom, preparing her son for her travel schedule, handling the guilt that creeps in, and learning what parts of herself she wants to hold onto.

This isn't the polished highlight reel. It's the raw, funny and honest version of what happens when you try to be present for your family while still figuring out who you are in this chapter. We're talking about her real life motherhood journey, the messy [00:02:00] moments, the surprises, and how she's finding herself

again, outside of working and parenting. This is one of those conversations that's both fun and deeply real.

Krissy: Kaitlin Becker, thank you so much for being here with me today. .

You are a global superstar who is on my

Kaitlin Becker: Oh

Krissy: screen pretty much every day, so I am very grateful to have you here connecting with me in real life as a mom.

Kaitlin Becker: yeah. Well, thanks for having me, and I'm happy to be a part of your living room.

Krissy: right. The parenting journey is a little easier with you by my side, for sure. So

Kaitlin Becker: Oh, aw.

Krissy: who were you before you became a mom?

Kaitlin Becker: I was someone who just, you know, did whatever I wanted and, uh. I was acting, I was hustling, I was staying up really late. I was just running around New York City being free and uh, and a little wild. There was a few years before I got pregnant where I was a sunny side up host, [00:03:00] and so I had more of a consistent schedule and job and I was, you know, finding, uh, out how to be responsible and how to be a grownup,

Krissy: That's a good lesson

Kaitlin Becker: but yeah,

Krissy: kids

Kaitlin Becker: yeah, yeah, I think so.

Krissy: because they force you into that pretty quickly, whether you want to or not.

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah. It just has to happen.

Krissy: definitely. So tell me how you decided you wanted to become a mom.

Kaitlin Becker: Well, I always wanted to be a mom, always, and I. Even when I was a kid, you know, I liked dolls. I had a baby alive that I loved. I have three younger siblings that are very far apart from me, age-wise. It's seven years younger, 10 years younger, 14 years younger. So

Krissy: Whoa.

Kaitlin Becker: having little kids in the house and helping my parents, you know, take care of everybody.

And I, I just, I loved it. And so I always dreamed about being a mother, but here's the twist. Okay, so I'm a [00:04:00] queer lady and I was like, I don't, I think you have to have a dude to do this.

Krissy: Right. Something tells me,

Kaitlin Becker: I've heard tale that, you know, and back in like 2000, in those times people weren't talking about, you know, I-U-I-I-V-F, having a kid on your own. Having a kid with a woman like that was just not part of the conversation. And I grew up in Kentucky, so it really was not

Krissy: wasn't and it still isn't really until you're in it and then you

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: it's like brand new information.

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah. So I was always like, how am I gonna do this?

And then, yeah, so then I got married. My wife and I, it worked out perfectly because she also wanted to be a mother, but she never wanted to carry and I really wanted to carry.

Krissy: it a little easier to,

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah. So I was like, well, easy peasy. So, it was 20 15, 20 14, 20 15 when we started the IUI process and all of that. And [00:05:00] honestly, very honestly started because my NBC Universal Health insurance was so incredible and they were so supportive with I-U-I-I-V-F, same sex marriage, all of it.

It was like the best insurance. I will ever have, I will never have better insurance than that. So I was like, Hmm, we should do it now.

Krissy: do this right now.

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah. Which is so messed up, you know, because health insurance, we can, that don't need to get into that, but you know, it was like, oh, I better take advantage of the support I'm going to get from this company.

So that really was a big motivator in like, let's do it now.

Krissy: Absolutely. Right? Like that's a kick in the pants of like, we're, we're not gonna wait, like, because this is

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: Like

Kaitlin Becker: Yes.

Krissy: is not

Kaitlin Becker: It's so expensive. So to know that the insurance was gonna help out, it was like, let's do it.

Krissy: Yes.

Kaitlin Becker: that's, that's when I decided to really go for it.

Krissy: You know, sometimes the universe just has a way of telling us now's the time, and,

Kaitlin Becker: [00:06:00] Yeah.

Krissy: that time is the signs are health insurance access.

Kaitlin Becker: Right.

Krissy: we go. Grateful to NBC Universal for, for

Kaitlin Becker: you. NBC, I'm available. Call me,

Krissy: me.

Kaitlin Becker: gimme the insurance again.

Krissy: Right. I'll take that. I've, I got a weird spot on my arm that I need to

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah, yeah, right, exactly. Yeah.

Krissy: got pregnant through miracle of IUI, which is

Kaitlin Becker: IVF actually, yes, I tried, I did 10 cycles of IUI and I was just determined to not do IVF for no reason. I just did not have enough information and I thought IVF meant 10 kids at once.

Krissy: Oh,

Kaitlin Becker: Like I was like, I don't want a hundred kids. Yeah. Yes.

Krissy: Yep.

Kaitlin Becker: I just was not very educated. But, so I did 10 rounds of IUI and then the first IVF try I got pregnant.

Wow.

Krissy: Wow. And that's a lot on your body.

Kaitlin Becker: Mm-hmm.

Krissy: And then to go

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: to a pregnancy is even

Kaitlin Becker: Yes.

Krissy: So tell me about what your friends were telling you about having a

Kaitlin Becker: Well. [00:07:00] So I was one of the first in my friend groups to get pregnant. So the women that I would talk to about labor and all those things, they were, a lot of them were a lot older than me. Or talking to like friends' moms about, you know, and that generation, they're not as comfortable talking about the bad things and, and all the, the feelings or the trauma or any of it, you know, it's all yeah, labor is hard, but then when you look into your baby's eyes, you forget all the pain.

Sorry. If you hear a siren, I'm in New York City, so it's gonna happen.

Krissy: don't

Kaitlin Becker: okay, perfect.

Krissy: I.

Kaitlin Becker: so, so it was a lot of that of like, yes, of course it's so hard, but as soon as you get that baby,

Krissy: Yep.

Kaitlin Becker: that's why kids, people have multiple babies 'cause they forget the pain. They, and I was like, wow, how crazy to go through something and then you're handed a baby and it all disappears.

Here I go,

Krissy: I'm prepared to

Kaitlin Becker: lies.

Krissy: fire for this child that I'm

Kaitlin Becker: Yes. [00:08:00] And now forget it all. Yeah. So that was

Krissy: then not so

Kaitlin Becker: completely,

Krissy: Yeah.

Kaitlin Becker: no, not even close. I was like, who are you?

Krissy: right, right. Who

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: I mean, truly time does help you to forget,

Kaitlin Becker: Yes,

Krissy: and I think that is, sounds like what you were hearing was the benefit of time from all of these people, but it truly is an instant.

I remember thinking the same thing, holding my baby. I'm like, don't recognize this kid at all. Like you are not with my

Kaitlin Becker: you are. Meeting for the first time. I thought my kid was gonna have dark, curly hair. Dark eyes. My kid is pale freckles, blue eyes, red hair. He's my biological child. So I, there was a lot going on where I'm like, literally, who are you?

Krissy: Literally, right. Where did you come from? If I

Kaitlin Becker: We are meeting for the first time. Yeah. So that it kind of bummed me out that I was told that.

And also what you see in on TV and movies too, it's that exactly what everyone's [00:09:00] talking about. It's terrible. You're crying, you're screaming. They hand the actor, the baby and it's like, oh my God, my life has forever changed. I'm in love. And I'm like, that's all lies enough. Like I'm so tired of seeing it because most people I talk to, they do not have that experience.

They don't have that feeling of, and all is right with the world.

Krissy: We feel all this pressure to be this maternal loving person immediately to this baby that we've never met. And of course, I'm sure if we were put to the test, we would probably truly walk through fire for this person that we just met.

Kaitlin Becker: Right? Yeah.

Krissy: feel that like, I, I don't know what you felt, but for me it was like if somebody came and told me like, thanks for watching my kid, I would've, I would've believed them.

Been like, oh, okay, I'm gonna miss you. You were so cute. But

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: it

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: weird. It was this transition.

Kaitlin Becker: It's so weird. And I was so exhausted and like hungry and I was, I was in labor for almost [00:10:00] exactly 24 hours and I didn't sleep at any of that. And so by the time my son was born and handed to me, I was like, that's nice. I have to sleep.

Krissy: Yep.

Kaitlin Becker: Like, I feel insane. I don't know what time it is, like where are my clothes?

You know, just like, I wanna go to bed and I want like a really big burger.

Krissy: Right. Where's my

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah,

Krissy: my

Kaitlin Becker: yeah,

Krissy: Where are my things?

Kaitlin Becker: yeah, yeah. It's crazy.

Krissy: Uh, so you now have this little baby and you're taking them home and you're figuring out life again. So tell me, exhaustion doesn't actually kick in for a few days, right? Like we are still kind of running on adrenaline. Sure. You're exhausted from labor and, and the birth and everything,

Kaitlin Becker: Mm-hmm.

Krissy: then you get the adrenaline and like my husband and I were high fiving each other in bed, like, we got this, like we are

Kaitlin Becker: Oh,

Krissy: good.

But then we

Kaitlin Becker: yeah.

Krissy: like, those people

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: very quickly,

Kaitlin Becker: It was short-lived.

Krissy: short lived. So [00:11:00] how was your early motherhood experience with the exhaustion that really comes with a baby that just doesn't sleep?

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah. It was so hard. And with lack of sleep, you just, you can't think clearly. I felt, I just felt like crazy, you know, like putting my phone in the refrigerator crazy of just like, I don't even wait. What is going on? And. And then it also, it kind of messed with me mentally to have people come over, visit the baby.

They're high energy, they're like, you know, taking pictures, holding the, and I'm like, what time is it?

Krissy: Right?

Kaitlin Becker: I don't think I've eaten today. And it this is like, no, my friends are incredible, but I think a lot of my friends didn't know how to care for their first friend who had a baby. It was just all like, your baby is cute.

Will you take a picture of me and your baby? And I'm like, I am wearing an ice diaper right now. And I haven't, I [00:12:00] haven't been able to sit for weeks, but yeah, let me take a picture of you and my baby. You know, like,

Krissy: Just

Kaitlin Becker: yeah. It was just,

Krissy: You're

Kaitlin Becker: yeah, I'm gonna get you in like, really good light. So yeah, the exhaustion, I don't, it didn't realize how much it affected me until I got a little further away from it and looking back and like.

Oh wow. That was really, really difficult. And I'm such a sleeper, like I need so much sleep. I love to nap. And that was my biggest fear in having a baby, which sounds kind of silly to say out loud, but I was like, I don't wanna be super exhausted. I don't wanna be, I see so many parents that are just like, so out of it.

I'm like, I don't want that. I don't want that. But there's not much you can do because even if you get a good night of sleep, for me anyway, I'm always thinking about the kid. It's like the mental exhaustion and the, the mental gymnastics and the math you're always doing. Like, okay, if he gets home at this time, I need to feed him by this time so that he can go to soccer practice.

And [00:13:00] it, it's like, you know how it is. So I am kind of mad that I still have the exhaustion and he's seven. I'm like, Ugh, when does it.

Krissy: Right. I know, I hear that a lot from people where it's like, and right now my, my oldest is four, so I hear this from people with four year olds. Like I didn't think this would last four years of

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: but the mental load of being a mom is just so overwhelming and we are

Kaitlin Becker: Mm-hmm.

Krissy: to, to understand just the ins and outs, all of it.

The preparing for their emotions, for their needs, their wants, their everything, and,

Kaitlin Becker: Mm-hmm.

Krissy: and not knowing how to communicate it is real hard. Now you are in a creative and

Kaitlin Becker: Mm-hmm.

Krissy: then, you are now like you're a creative person and that is a lot of you, that takes a lot of energy and when you are exhausted, that must be. Ridiculously hard.

Kaitlin Becker: It's so hard. Thank [00:14:00] you for recognizing that. I, yeah, like, so, when I would travel for the the Meekah job, if I would travel to another city film for a week, it's like 12 hour days and, you know, end of a, a long day, everyone wants to go out, get dinner, get drinks, be like, whew, we did it. We're in a new city.

Let's check out the town. So. Then everyone flies back home and they're like, oh, I'm just gonna sleep tomorrow. And I'm like, I'm gonna get off the plane and go right, like there's no break. I'm gonna get off the plane, go straight to my child and like read him a book. And that there's just, you know, and it was very hard.

It was very hard. It was hard also to watch my very energetic CoStar who's like 10 years younger than me, who has no children at this level. And I'm like, pretending to have energy. Like so many moms will message me on social media. Oh, I wish I had that energy. How do you get that [00:15:00] energy? I'm like, I don't have it.

I'm truly acting like, truly, I'm like telling myself like, you have high energy.

Krissy: Yes.

Kaitlin Becker: You have to look excited in this. But inside I was like half asleep.

Krissy: Well, that is a award-winning level and of acting because you know, the joke, the joke is, and like you said, the actors are, are in a different position than you, but the

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah,

Krissy: like, I want what Blippi's on, I

Kaitlin Becker: totally. Yes. Yes. I'm like, me too, me too. Give it to me because I'm getting past coffee all day, but it's not kicking in.

Krissy: right.

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah. I will say though, on those trips, I got the best sleep of my life because, you know, I'm far away from my child. He's not going to fall off the bed. He's not gonna wake me up. So it was the best sleep of my life.

But like we said, the exhaustion is still always kind of there.

Krissy: It sounds like that would be like, that's something I just want to do anyway. Like I wanna go [00:16:00] to a hotel down the road and pretend I'm in a different,

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: like everybody, I was thinking that when you were saying, everybody's like, we're gonna go out, have drinks, you're like, I'm gonna go take a nap in that big

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: the Kardashians.

Kaitlin Becker: Yes. I just wanna do nothing and just be a vegetable and just lay there. Like, don't text me, don't call me. Don't talk to me. Like, I just want silence and this bed. So that, that was a perk to just have no child nearby. Bye.

Krissy: So when you were first coming out of your postpartum and the little baby that you had, that you're nurturing somehow

Kaitlin Becker: Mm-hmm.

Krissy: you are, were you still working at that point?

Kaitlin Becker: Yes.

Krissy: Yeah.

Kaitlin Becker: I, so I was doing a lot, I was doing background acting which kind of like hurt my soul because I had just come off of sunny side up and I thought I would never do be a background actor again, but it pays. So I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna do it. Who [00:17:00] cares? And I was literally like pumping, uh, you know.

Because background acting, I would be sometimes 12, 14 hour days and I would have to go in the bathroom and like pump and do all that. And I was like, this sucks. And I was writing a web series at the time and I was doing voiceover and I started doing all of that. I think he was like three months old when I started getting back into everything, because there's a woman in the neighborhood who was, it doesn't matter.

I don't, I don't need to tell a long story. But anyway, we had a babysitter who was an amazing, who charged like next to nothing and was just like, like retired and her kids were grown and like gave her something to do and she was amazing and yeah, like a true. I was like, jump on it.

Krissy: Right.

Kaitlin Becker: Could walk to her house and because she was available, that allowed [00:18:00] me to go back into work.

But I, I, I remember putting Everett to bed and then like crawling over to my little desk and like writing. I was so desperate to not lose that part of me. And, uh, I just, yeah, I wanted to stay creative, stay creating. That was a like really big goal for me to just remember myself and not lose any of it.

And it's honestly like still a challenge seven years in to be like, don't lose yourself, Kaitlin. Like, remember who you are.

Krissy: I remember. I remember.

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: Amazing. So you're, it sounds like you're acting, at least at that point in your life was work and, and that, and wasn't the creative outlet that you needed, but you were able to figure out way to build it in, even when it

Kaitlin Becker: Yeah.

Krissy: late and really tough. So tell me about the creative projects that you love to do.

Kaitlin Becker: That I love to do just in life

Krissy: [00:19:00] Yeah.

Kaitlin Becker: or Right. Or,

Krissy: gives you the energy when you're being a, when you're in a mom to remember, like you were saying, remember who you are. Well, who is that? What, what are those things that you're, you're living for?

Kaitlin Becker: I, this is a great question for me at this time because that's what I've been asking myself because I'm no longer playing the Meekah character.

Krissy: Right.

Kaitlin Becker: And so coming out of that, I've been looking at, you know, like, what do I miss? What did I not get to do on that job? And I really miss music. I'm a singer.

I miss musical theater. I miss theater. So I've been kind of working through these things and I did a theater festival in January and I haven't been on stage in 10 years, and it felt so good to be back on stage. Like it was so comfy and rewarding. I was like, oh yeah, remember the stage. So that was good.

And writing, I really did not write very much while I was doing the [00:20:00] Meekah stuff. And so like the second I decided to leave that job, it was like pen and paper. Like, like I, I could not stop writing. So it's been interesting to see like what happened once I walked away from that job. What things were like falling out of me that I.

I didn't forget about, but I forgot how much it filled me up. So music, writing, comedy those are like my three things that I, I need to really feel like Kaitlin. And also going back to my high school self,

Krissy: Yes,

Kaitlin Becker: I think is important for people. Like what, like lit you up when you were a kid? 'Cause I feel like it still lights you up, like it's really in your bones.

So

Krissy: Yeah.

Kaitlin Becker: I've been doing that, that work right now. I'm like, what do I love the most? What makes me feel the most like me?

Krissy: I agree with you so much about the high school thing. Like I think we can probably relate to ourselves more when we were teenagers

Kaitlin Becker: Mm-hmm.

Krissy: a [00:21:00] mom than even in our, our twenties, because that was such a unique period, and we were alone, we were adults, we were all these things. But like, let's go back to the roots.

Let's go back to who we really were, like when we were dependent on other people in the similar way that we kind of are now. What was the thing that when we had all this chaos going on around us, of high school, of everything, the drama, the,

Kaitlin Becker: Mm-hmm.

Krissy: needs that we had, what was the thing that we did then?

And then we can kind of pull that back because I don't know about you, but some of the things that I like to do in my twenties, like sitting down and reading a book I don't really love anymore. I, I will.

Kaitlin Becker: Mm-hmm.

Krissy: I will, but it's not something that I'm gonna put down and be like, yes, I feel, I feel wonderful.

Kaitlin Becker: exactly. And now that my kid is seven and he's really, you know, like we can have almost adult conversations and he's, uh, really, I always say like he's emotionally intelligent, like we have these deep emotional conversations, but it is a great reminder of. Who I was at seven [00:22:00] and what made me tick or what got me really excited.

It's, it's cool. Sometimes it's, you know, hard when your kid's a little mirror

Krissy: yeah.

Kaitlin Becker: and you're like, I don't wanna look at that. But, but I, I do like when I, it helps me remember like, oh yeah, it's seven. I really loved this. I forgot about that. So yeah, look forward to that.

Krissy: I

Kaitlin Becker: awesome. Yeah.

Krissy: excited for, I mean, I, you don't wanna wish an away time, and I certainly

Kaitlin Becker: Right.

Krissy: it's nice to know that it's not just I'm losing my little babies. It's that I have something amazing to look forward to as well.

Kaitlin Becker: Totally. Yeah.

Krissy: have any final words of wisdom for the moms who are listening who are in it right now and trying to figure out who they are?

Kaitlin Becker: I, I want everyone to be able to take some kind of break. And I know that can come with privilege if you know, but even if you don't have childcare or whatever, I'm just like always talking to moms. How can we find a break for you? Even if it's 10 [00:23:00] minutes of silence, it, it is a game changer, you know? So I think making a purposeful break for yourself and changing the scenery, even if it's just like a walk around the block to just like, get out of it for a moment and then get back in.

And yeah, finding those ways of not losing yourself, like we were just saying. Remembering the things that light you up and that like every night before I go to bed, no matter how tired I am. I have to watch something that makes me laugh out loud because that's like my medicine. So even though I'm dead tired, I'm like, let me just to the living room and watch like 20 minutes of something really funny because that's what I love the most is laughing.

And so I'm, that's my little like Kaitlin dope hit, you know, before I go to bed. So I think it's just those little tiny things can make a big change.

Krissy: Great. That's such great advice.

Well, I'm so grateful that you've spent all of this [00:24:00] time with us today and sharing all the behind the scenes of who you are and how being a mom has influenced your journey. Tell us where we can find you.

Kaitlin Becker: You can find. What if I just said my exact address? I was like, I live at, you're like, Kaitlin. You could find me on,

Krissy: it.

Kaitlin Becker: on, yeah. You send me g no, I, you could find me on, on TikTok and Instagram mostly. I'm at Kaitlin, Becks on Instagram and I can't change it to Becker. Dang it. And TikTok is Kaitlin Becker.

Krissy: Excellent.

Kaitlin Becker: You can find me there. Yeah.

Krissy: And

Kaitlin Becker: And my website, Kaitlin becker.com.

Krissy: And if you have AMeekah obsessed child, then we can also find you on cameo. Right?

Kaitlin Becker: God. Thank you. Yes, thank you. Yes. I forget about cameo. Get your cameos. I'm not Meekah in them, but I do bring the Meekah energy and I love, it's awesome. [00:25:00] Cameos been awesome because I feel like I can still do my thing. Even though I'm not

Krissy: Yeah,

Kaitlin Becker: the Meekah episodes, I'm still able to connect with kids and I do a lot of videos from moms too, which is my favorite.

Yeah. So yeah, find me wherever you wanna find me.

Krissy: I love it. Well, thank you so much. This has been a, a pure joy, truly.

Kaitlin Becker: Same for me. Thanks for having me.

In the next episode, Kaitlin is back and we're shifting gears to talk about what it's like to navigate a career when millions of kids and their parents know your face from advocating for herself in the industry, to building creative projects outside of Meekah, she's sharing the behind the scenes of a career that is so much more than what you see on the screen.

If you loved this conversation with Kaitlin, share it with another mom who could use a reminder that we're all just figuring this out, whether we're in the spotlight or not.

And if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, hit that follow button and leave a quick review. It's such a simple way to help more moms find this show, and honestly, it means the world to me to know that these conversations are reaching the women who [00:26:00] need the most.