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Daily Inspiration Quote by Moira Kelly

"I used to babysit a lot, and I used to be a nanny"

About this Quote

There’s a deliberate plainness to Moira Kelly’s line that functions like an anti-myth. In an industry that trains women to package themselves as destiny - discovered, chosen, inevitable - she reaches for the least glamorous origin story imaginable: childcare gigs. The effect is quietly disarming. Babysitting and nannying are forms of labor that demand vigilance, emotional regulation, and competence, yet they’re culturally coded as “just helping out.” By naming that work without embellishment, Kelly smuggles in a critique of what we’re taught to value.

The intent feels pragmatic: she’s anchoring her identity in something real, not in the fog machine of celebrity narrative. Subtext: I didn’t arrive here fully formed; I showed up, did the unphotogenic jobs, learned how to manage people and pressure. For actors, that’s not a detour. Childcare is performance-adjacent: reading a room, keeping energy steady, improvising, making someone else feel safe. It’s also a reminder that many creative careers are built on survival jobs, especially for women, whose early work is often caretaking by default.

Contextually, it lands as a small act of self-positioning. She’s not selling hardship porn or bootstrap heroics; she’s normalizing a past that doesn’t “sound” cinematic. That refusal to romanticize is the point. The quote works because it narrows the gap between public persona and private resume, undercutting the idea that fame erases the ordinary.

Quote Details

TopicParenting
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Kelly, Moira. (2026, January 17). I used to babysit a lot, and I used to be a nanny. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-used-to-babysit-a-lot-and-i-used-to-be-a-nanny-68282/

Chicago Style
Kelly, Moira. "I used to babysit a lot, and I used to be a nanny." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-used-to-babysit-a-lot-and-i-used-to-be-a-nanny-68282/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I used to babysit a lot, and I used to be a nanny." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-used-to-babysit-a-lot-and-i-used-to-be-a-nanny-68282/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.

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I Used to Babysit and Be a Nanny - Moira Kelly
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About the Author

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Moira Kelly (born March 6, 1968) is a Actress from USA.

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