they bickered and argued with one another constantly.
“Oh gosh, they fight. They ask me constantly, ‘Mommy, are you happy?’ Well, he asks me that,” Bassett told Access Hollywood in 2013. “And I say, ‘If we are not bickering, punching or fighting, then yes, I’m happy. But every day, we’re bickering, punching and fighting!’ ”
Even so, Slater still protected his sister when he could.
“She’s big heart — she loves her brother — and he protects her in school … If she’s having some trouble he’s right in there for her, ‘Don’t you talk back to my sister!’ ” Bassett shared. “But at home with mom, it’s the safe place to just act a fool.”
As a teenager, Slater turned his hand to music. He released his first album, “Journey 2 Forever,” in 2021. The following year, Slater released an EP titled “Holehearted.”
On Parenting Pressure
“You know, it’s so easy to be hard on yourself. Don’t be so, so hard on yourself, because being hard on yourself is just you trying to be perfect, trying to be the best that you possibly can be. You know, take stock and remember those things that really ignite your passion. That make you happy. I didn’t get a real clear sense of who my mother was until after she passed away, and would read letters, or people came up to me how she spoke into their lives and what she meant to them, or how enthusiastic she was.”
“I knew she could be fun in those moments that I would hear her laugh laboriously until her tears ran down her cheeks. I really sort of loved that. But you want so much for your kids when you’re a single mom on a fixed income and with a 12th grade education … it’s that you don’t want for your kids, and that’s why she pushed us, but when you’re in it as a child you really don’t understand these things about your parents. So enjoy who you are, enjoy your kids, and realize they’re gonna do some good things, they’re gonna make some mistakes, but it’ll all turn out as it’s supposed to.”