Part of growing up is realizing that growth doesn't always feel like progress. This is how Sarah Lahbati describes turning 32 this year.
On October 9, 2025, as she turns a year older, the actress finds herself looking back not only on her creative journey, but on the years she spent growing up alongside her children.
“I’m 32—in my second year back in the place I came from. Paris. Paris Fashion Week, to be exact,” Sarah began.
“It feels like a six-month crash course in fashion, art, and creativity, all packed into a week and a half. I’ve met incredible people, though sometimes I still find myself retreating into my shell.”
Read: What Sarah Lahbati realized after Paris Fashion Week
Sarah as a young mom
Before stepping into the front-row seats of fashion week shows, Sarah was a teenager working to build a name for herself in showbiz.
Then in 2013, at 19, she and her estranged husband Richard Gutierrez welcomed their first son, Zion Gutierrez and embraced motherhood—which changed her life in every possible way.
At a time when young motherhood was often either romanticized or judged, Sarah learned to balance love, career, and growth—all under public scrutiny.
She and Richard later married on March 14, 2020—just a day before the pandemic lockdown—in a private civil ceremony.
By then, they were already parents to two boys: Zion and Kai Gutierrez, who was born in 2018.
“Now, sitting on the sofa with Zion and Kai, I feel a mix of gratitude and sadness - call it birthday blues,” Sarah writes in her 32nd birthday post.
“I won't get too deep, because there's beauty in keeping some things for yourself. But what I do feel strongly is gratitude.
“Like last year - not comparing, just reflecting - I'm grateful, for so many reasons.
Her post is not one of self-acceptance. She acknowledges how much she has changed, and how that change often comes with loss.
“I've realized I notice too much and feel too much. I've been told not to make a fuss about it, but it's both a gift and a curse — this habit of reflection.
“I feel growth. And with growth comes loss - fragments of who I was, pieces I've outgrown. I grieve them a little, but mostly, I feel proud.
“Proud, yet open. Still learning.”
She says: “As a young mom, l've found myself in situations that surprised me
- moments that only existed because I dared to show up.
“My wish for you is the same: to step forward, even when it's uncertain.”
Read: Does Sarah Lahbati teach her sons about skin care?
Shutting out the noise and using one's voice
Sarah rises to the challenge of staying grounded in a world full of chaos and distractions.
She goes on: “Shutting out the noise - the painful, heartbreaking, shattering things happening in my mother country - I return to purpose.
“To why I do what I do. Because a life is meant to be lived.
“Having grown up across three countries, I try to speak from that place of connection, from my heart, and from my intent. My life has been far from linear...”
Her words echo the maturity of someone who has lived several lives in one — daughter, actress, wife, mother, artist.
“Not to sound all Dalai Lama about it - I don't think I'm important enough to change the world - but I know I must use my voice. I need purpose.
“And in the midst of so much darkness — and I wish I had a better word - I hope we all return to ourselves, to our purpose, to what's true in our hearts.
“For me, that purpose has always been rooted in helping.”
She explains: “Not to be a hero, not to make myself feel better, but because when I had nothing, when I couldn't find the words, someone helped me.
“And maybe that's what I'm meant to pass on - the reminder that helping, in whatever way we can, and choosing kindness, still matters.
“And before I end this little reflection - thank you.
“Thank you for the kind birthday wishes, for the love, and for reminding me, once again, that gratitude is everything.”
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