The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City‘s Mary Cosby shared a bittersweet update on her relationship with son Robert Cosby Jr. as they navigate his post-rehab sobriety journey.
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The subject arose as Mary toured renovations that her cousin, “Big Joe,” had made to her Faith Temple Pentecostal Church during Season 6, Episode 4. As she pointed out, reopening the place of worship that her grandmother, Rosemary “Mama” Cosby, founded had been at least two years in the making.Â
“It will be cool to come back. And Robert is excited,” Mary said, prompting her cousin to point out that her son took his first steps in the church. He went on to ask how Robert Jr. was doing, after the now-22-year-old (who she shares with husband Robert Cosby Sr.) completed a 30-day rehab program.
“He’s good. I mean, we’re probably 100 times closer now,” Mary replied. “Which is even more hurtful, because now I know when he’s fallen off, especially now that I’m fully aware of what’s going on.”
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Describing Robert Jr. as “sharp” and “smart,” Mary went on to predict that her church reopening after a years-long renovation would have a positive impact on him.Â
“He’s got a good heart,” she added. “I’m excited for us to come back to church. Church is always good to help. Bring him to church and have some prayer. That’ll help anyone.”
Inside Robert Cosby Jr.’s post-rehab difficulties
Previously during the second episode of RHOSLC Season 6, Robert Jr. had an honest conversation with Mary about the “scary” difficulties he’d faced after returning home from treatment.
Admitting that he felt like he was “at a standstill” in his recovery journey, Robert Jr. shared, “I’m not in that dark place, but, like, it’s still there, if that makes sense.”
He continued, “I just didn’t expect it to be like this. … You have to change who you are as a person. Like, you’re so used to doing something you do every day and it’s a ritual. And then, you just come back home to where you used to do that ritual and you’re not doing it anymore.”
RELATED:Â Mary Cosby Sheds New Light on Husband Robert Sr.’s Role in Robert Jr.’s Sobriety Journey
Robert Jr. added that he’d been “isolating a lot,” especially after he stopped hanging out with the friends that he “was partying with,” prior to entering rehab. As he told Mary during their emotional chat, he’d begun “getting that stimuli from unhealthy sources.”
“I’m still beating myself up,” Robert Jr. admitted. “I’m not completely off and perfect.”
How Mary Cosby is handling her son’s sobriety journey
Mary, meanwhile, advised Robert Jr. to “retrain” his mindset and continue avoiding the people he “bonded with over drugs.”
“Every day is not easy, and I know you have to take life day by day,” she told him. “Sometimes you fall, but you get back up. …Â We’re fighters. We fight.”
In a confessional, Mary admitted that the conversation knocked the wind out of her.
“I feel like his whole life, I’ve always been that helicopter mom. And I feel like that drove him to be, like, not wanting to let me down, so not telling me the truth,” she elaborated. “And I felt like it’s actually changed me to back off and let him see that I trust that he’s going to make the right decision. Because it’s like you have to do it; we can’t do it for you.”
Plus, Mary had her husband, Robert Sr. to be her “support system,” while she figured things out.Â
“I couldn’t have done it without Robert Sr.,” she told her RHOSLC castmates during their RV camping trip, earlier in the same episode. “I couldn’t have done it at all.”
As she further detailed to a producer, “When Robert Jr. got home [from rehab], we had a talk with him and Robert Sr. told him, ‘We cannot babysit you. You have the tools, and you know what you need to do.’ So, we, like, made a pact that we would take one day at a time, and we’re letting him figure it out. And that’s how I deal with him.”
As she navigates her family’s new normal, get more details on how Mary is supporting Robert Jr. on his sobriety journey.
