How TV Host Debbie Matenopoulos Spends Her Day
To say that Debbie Matenopoulos is a modern-day renaissance woman would be a total understatement. The two-time Emmy nominee is the host of Hallmark Channel’s morning show Home & Family, a best-selling cookbook author, a wife, and a mom to three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Alexandra Kalliope. To show us how she gets it all done, Debbie is pulling back the curtain and inviting us behind the scenes of her day-to-day.
"I pack a lot into each day, but I don't do the kind of work where I feel spent when I get home," she says. "I almost feel invigorated afterwards because every single day I learn something new from the experts that come on the show."
Here’s how the 43-year-old TV host balances her busy schedule and still finds time for good food and family.
🕒 5:30 a.m.
"I'm a morning person, so I tend to get up anywhere between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m. It used to be much earlier, but I sleep in a little bit more now that my daughter is older. I take a shower, get dressed for work, and then make myself a chamomile tea with Manuka honey. By then my daughter will wake up and I'll start getting her ready. Anytime I'm in a rush my go-to beauty product is a tinted moisturizer for a sun-kissed glow. That and mascara. I feel like an eyelash curler and some good mascara can really change your life."
🕒 7:00 a.m.
"Out the door. The commute is an hour each way and I only live 12 miles from the studio. I always say if I had a super power it would be teleportation."
🕒 8:00 a.m.
"As soon as I get to the Universal Lot, I make a great açaí bowl for breakfast with whatever frozen fruit we have on set. Then, I'll add in avocado and some almond butter. I blend all that up, and then I'll add in Greek yogurt, chia seeds, flax seeds, and a few coconut flakes on top. Then, I sit down for hair and makeup before we do a card read for the day's show."
🕒 10:15 a.m.
"We start rehearsals just after 10:00. Often times I bring my daughter to work with me if she's not at preschool that day, or if it's summer time. In between rehearsals and filming, I like to sit and play with her. She has such a great time on set, because she gets to run around and play with all the crafts."
🕒 11:45 a.m.
"We break for lunch. Most times I have an arugula salad with parmesan, grilled chicken, and avocado. Then, I do my final fittings for the outfits I'm going to wear on the show that day. Finally, I get touched up and changed."
🕒 1:00 p.m.
"By 12:45 I'm back on set getting mic-ed. The show starts live at 1:00. It's not as stressful filming , as one might think. Part of this job is learning to go with the flow. We can rehearse but once the cameras start rolling you just have to go with it. No matter what happens I always think, 'Okay, I'll be better tomorrow. I'll be better tomorrow.' Even if today was a great day, tomorrow [...] I want to be better."
🕒 3:30 p.m.
"We shoot from 1:00 to 3:00 or 3:30 depending on how long the stops are in between commercial breaks. After we wrap I'll try to do a photo or something for Instagram. Then, I go prepare for the next day. In wardrobe I'll do a fitting and try to get five or so outfits together so we're not rushed the day of. Next, I talk to the producers and read books or do research on who's coming on tomorrow."
🕒 5:30 p.m.
Time to head home!
🕒 6:30 p.m.
"Once I get home I play with my daughter, give her a bath, and read a few stories to her before putting her to bed. Then, I hop on my Peloton bike for about 45 minutes. I'm obsessed with it right now. For somebody that has such a busy schedule, it's so convenient. I can work out at home at any time and I have 10,000 classes to choose from. Then, I hop in the shower and start reading my script for the next day. Somewhere in between there, my husband, Jon [Falcone], and I will have dinner. Because my schedule has been so busy lately, dinner will be something that we've cooked on the show for the day, like flank steak with a side of broccoli, and salad with a sort of twist on a Caesar dressing."
🕒 11:30 p.m.
"Bedtime! Right now, I'm a big fan of the skin care line called Stacked. My skin is so sensitive and this is the first brand I've used that has not broken me out at all. It's gotten rid of redness and evened my skin tone. Next I read scripts and then go back and forth with producers about revisions over email. I'd like to get to bed earlier, but I don't turn in until about 11:30 every night. Roughly six hours later, I wake up and do it all over again!"
Home & Family airs weekdays at 10 a.m. /9c on Hallmark Channel.
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