Photo: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock
Actress, singer and TV host Adrienne Bailon tells YourTango all about her busy life.
By Kim Peiffer — Written on Oct 17, 2021
She’s a singer, she’s an actress and she’s a bourgeoning entrepreneur, but Adrienne Bailon Houghton is so much more than a triple threat.
Between filming her YouTube series "All Things Adrienne," co-hosting her daytime talk show "The Real," launching several fashion brands, recording a new album with her husband Isreal Houghton, and remodeling her home, there’s rarely a moment to spare in her day.
But does that slow her down? No chance. Now, she’s adding spokesperson to her resume for Olay’s new body collection.
Below, she walks us through her morning routine, how she found love within herself, and shares the secret being fearless in her own skin.
Adrienne Bailon On Her New Partnership With Olay
"I have been a fan of Olay pretty much my whole life, as far as I can remember back, because it's been a staple in my home for years. But I'm excited about this campaign, in particular — not only because this new body lotion collection is super-innovative, but also because of what it stands for.
The campaign is here to empower female entrepreneurs; I love their partnership with LISC NYC to empower women of color, to be entrepreneurs in Washington Heights. That hits home for me as a Latina from New York, also being an entrepreneur myself.
I just think that the vision for this campaign is really special. I love that we're talking about being fearless and what that means to be fearless in your skin as an entrepreneur, especially as women.
Sometimes our confidence comes from the moments that we take before we start and end our day. You need that confidence and you’ve got to feel great in your skin in order to do that.
And then, ultimately, I needed a product like this in my life. We've all heard about the incredible benefits of using collagen, and I've put it in my smoothies but I never considered using it on my whole body.
I feel like we all do like skincare from the neck up but I’ve come to realize that if my face needs collagen, so does my body. I love using something that you actually see the gradual change. [My skin is] visibly firmer.
I'm someone that suffers from cellulite in my thighs. So this is my nighttime routine — this on the thighs is a must."
Adrienne Bailon On Getting Up At The Crack Of Dawn
"I am up before the sun. We are here in L.A. shooting "The Real" and we have to be on set early, so I’m in my car by 6 AM. So I get up most mornings at 5 AM. The shower helps me wake up in the morning.
Again, I consider it my "me time." First thing in the morning and my moments before I go to bed at night are my self-care moments, and those are always in the shower. It's the only time I'm alone [when I'm in the bathroom].
I have a husband, my stepdaughters, my assistant — there's always a million things going on and I'm with a million people at any given time. But that moment that I take to just be in the bathroom is my "me time."
So first thing in the morning I shower, and then I lotion my body, my face and prep myself to get ready to go to work. They actually say that you shouldn't wait more than three minutes to moisturize your whole body after the shower. Three minutes to me is not a lot of time!"
Adrienne Bailon On Being A Morning Person
"I would say I’m not a morning person and I'm not a night person; I'm more of an afternoon kind of gal, which doesn't really work for being an entrepreneur. That isn't naturally who I am, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. So now I love it.
They say it takes 20-something days (depending on what book you read) to develop a habit. And one of the things that I told myself I was going to start doing was waking up at five o'clock in the morning. I promised myself that I would stay on New York time, even when I'm in L.A., just so that I could get ahead of everyone else.
When I got into the first week of filming, I joined Equinox and literally went to the gym every single morning at five o'clock in the morning, and I felt like I could get so much more accomplished by doing that. It was life-changing.
I read this incredible meme recently that said, “You're not overwhelmed. You're just lazy. And you need to wake up earlier.” It really spoke to me. It just puts things into perspective — like if you really got up an hour or two earlier, what you could accomplish before anyone can bother you with anything? You just knock out the things that you must knock out.
I'm also a list person. I make a list every night before I go to bed and I refer to it first thing in the morning. It’s detailed down to the minute. I must be extremely detailed with how I spend my time, because there's a lot going on over here!"
Adrienne Bailon On What Inspires Her To Succeed
"I’ve got five projects going right now: my jewelry brand, my vegan luxury handbag line, I’ve got "The Real" that I shoot Monday through Wednesday, we've got my husband's band that I’m a part of with an album coming out in two weeks, and I have my YouTube channel "All Things Adrienne." And under my YouTube channel, we're preparing to start a design show.
My jewelry company was inspired by hearing from my fans that they love these pieces that I was wearing. And it was kind of funny because they're like, "oh, where can I buy that?" And I was like, "well, you can't because it's actually handed down from me from my family." Like, these were signature pieces that I was wearing that were hand-me-downs from my grandmother and my mom's gifts that I was given as a child.
And so, my first collection initially was recreating my signature pieces at an affordable price for my fans. So instead of doing solid gold, we did gold plating. And then I really took time and energy and put my whole heart and just, like, customize our boxes. And I know that sounds crazy, but for me, because we are an e-commerce shop, that shopping experience, I wanted it to be really special.
I know how I feel when something I ordered online arrives. And if it's just, like, in a plastic bag, I'm like, what is this versus the experience of, like, dope packaging? What's the story behind it?
Then I started following a plant-based vegan lifestyle and I recognized that I didn't want to wear a lot of leather. And I recognized that that just wasn't something that I wanted. And also, I wanted to focus on the price points — growing up in the projects in New York City, I know what it's like to see your favorite celebrities and fashion icons wearing things that you can't afford and still wanting to be fashionable. And I was like, I'm still that girl.
I wanted to create a really high-end luxury fashion brand that at the same time was affordable for girls that grew up like me."
Adrienne Bailon On Prioritizing Her Mental Health
"My secrets and tips are having a support system consisting of people that I love and that love me, and that understand that you work hard. I think you need a team that’s going to be there to support you; you can't do it alone. I'm grateful for my family.
And the other thing I would say that is essential to mental health is rest. I think that we live in a culture that pushes that “hustle hard, no sleep for days” mentality. Creative people need to rest; they need days where they do absolutely nothing. That's where you get your best ideas.
So even though I've got all these things going on, if there's a day that I just need to rest, I know that the best version of myself is going to come from that rest. Take a nap, people!"
Adrienne Bailon On The One Piece Of Advice She Would Give Her Younger Self
"This sounds so cheesy, but no one is going to care about you more than you, including that boy you think you're really in love with, so I would say focus on you and the goals and aspirations you have, and the love and all of that will come later.
I really, really do believe that I feel like I had some great opportunities that I missed out on, because, if I'm honest, I was in love and I was totally focused on that.
So I would tell myself to focus on you because, trust me, the boys are focusing on them. You should be doing the same."
Adrienne Bailon On The Best Pieces Of Advice She’s Ever Been Given
"If you are authentically you, that's when what is meant for you will come to you. If you're too busy being fake and trying to become what you think success looks and feels like, and sounds, talks and walks like, you might miss out on what is going to be your gold mine.
I feel like when I started just speaking my mind and being who I am and being comfortable in my own skin, that is when people started being able to relate to me. Doors started opening up.
Those are the things that actually benefited me most because there were girls that were like, “I like you. I like what you have to say. I like the way you dress. I can relate to that.” That honesty and that authenticity was where my businesses were birthed from. So I'm grateful for that.
Be authentic. Trust me, what is for you is meant for you and it will blossom from there."
Adrienne Bailon On When She Feels Most Beautiful
"I feel most beautiful when I'm laughing. When I'm happy and when there are good people around me that love me, that see me with no makeup on and think I'm beautiful, there’s nothing better than that.
I feel the most beautiful when I'm surrounded by my loved ones, with not a stitch of makeup on, some lounge wear and just laughing a lot."
Adrienne Bailon On The Secret To Remaining Fearless In Your Skin
"I think remembering that when you're fearless, anything is possible. When you just go for it, when you have that childlike fearlessness, that's when great things happen.
You don't double-guess yourself. You don't doubt yourself.
When I know I've put in the work to take care of myself, that's when I feel fearless. I'm like, I've done the work. I drank the water. I got the eight hours of sleep, moisturized. Yep."
Adrienne Bailon On Balancing Work, And Being A Good Wife And A Good Stepmom
"It is not easy for me. The balance is asking for help when I feel overwhelmed. I need help. I think sometimes when you just verbalize that, the people that love you will get it.
Ultimately, you really do have to recognize that you're only going to be really successful if you're happy; that, to me, is the ultimate success. To me, the ultimate success is being happy.
And if I'm not a great wife and a great stepmom and a great family person, that's never going to make me happy. That's not success to me."
Kim Peiffer is an editor and writer covering the women’s lifestyle space. She’s written beauty, fashion, celebrity and wellness content for publications including Vogue, InStyle, Forbes, Glamour, Robb Report, Oprah, Shape, MSN, NBC, and People Magazine.