Kristin Cavallari talks about strong work ethic as Jay Cutler divorce settlement is hashed out: ‘I’ve always wanted to make my own money’

Kristin Cavallari is opening up about co-parenting and building her own financial empire as her divorce from Jay Cutler continues to play out.

The reality star turned cookbook author and fashion designer, 34, talked about navigating her custody agreement after her 2020 split with the former NFL star. It sees her spending every other week with her her kids — Camden, 8, and Jaxon, 7, and Saylor, 5 — and working and playing hard when she's apart from them.

“I only have my kids half the time now. I have them every other week,” Cavallari told Grazia magazine. “I have just decided that the week I have my kids, I’m mom. I’m not doing anything else.”

The Hills alum, 34, continued, “I have a week off where I can go to dinner every night with my friends if I want to." Last week, the Nashville-based star was in Charleston, S.C., with a group including Southern Charm's Austen Kroll and Craig Conover as well as her pal Steph Biegel.

Or "I can work really hard if I need to. I can stay at the office later if I need to," Cavallari said. That also includes magazine photo shoots, like the Grazia one, to promote her fall line of Uncommon James, which is out in July.

Then when it's mom time, that's her full focus. Cavallari explained, "But when I have my kids, I’m not doing anything else.” This week, she and the kids are vacationing in her favorite spot, Cabo.

The reality star, who appeared in Laguna Beach in high school and is now a New York Times best-selling author, said she got her strong work ethic from, well, herself.

“I’ve always had this work ethic in me and I’ve always wanted to make my own money,” she noted, citing her first job was a hostess at age 15 before her MTV stardom. “It has always been really important to me because I never wanted to rely on anybody. To me, money was freedom. It was independence.”

She went on to share, “I probably got that from my parents being divorced. My stepmom was 20 years younger than my dad. I didn’t like that situation."

Cavallari said she went against her commercial property developer dad's advice when she got her first job, explaining, "I remember my dad saying, ‘You know, you don’t have to have a job.’ And I was like, ‘No, I know. But I want one.’ I’ve always wanted to make my own money and be my own person.”

Her comments about building her empire come as she and Cutler, 38, hash out the financial part of their divorce. While he was one of the highest-paid NFL players ever and he has other business ventures, TMZ recently reported that he's fighting for half of Uncommon James, her brand that sells jewelry, apparel and home line and was the backdrop of her reality show Very Cavallari.

There was no talk of that, however, in a recent interview Cutler did with E! News in which he said things have been "good" with their three kids since the couple ended their seven-year marriage in spring 2020. He noted, "Kids are resilient. With school and all the activities, we've done a good job of putting them first."

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