Sherri Shepherd Gets Emotional As Her Son Jeffrey, Who Has Special Needs, Heads Off To College

Sherri Shepherd is an inspiring reminder for special needs moms that it’s possible for your kids to thrive and become independent. The TV host recently sent her autistic son Jeffrey Tarpley off for his freshman year of college. As moms who have experienced this can imagine, your child leaving the nest is an emotional ordeal.

“When I tell you I am wandering around the house so sad because my label as a mother, I don’t know who I am,” Shepherd said to her former co-hosts on The View during her latest visit to the show. One of the goals of parenting is to help your kids become independent. Sometimes that independence comes with less communication on their part, which Shepherd said she’s currently experiencing.

“I feel like every time I talk to him I got three minutes to teach him about life,” she said, adding examples like teaching him how to fold something or money management.

“I’m trying to adjust because he doesn’t call me, which means he’s finding his independence,” she said.

Tearing up she added, “because he’s got special needs and so that’s what I always wanted, was for him to find his independence and he’s at college and I didn’t think he’d be able to, and he did it.”

That said, Jeffrey is doing just fine in his freshman year based on the updates the school shares with the 59-year-old.

“They call me and said Jeffrey’s such a leader and he makes everybody feel good and he tells jokes,” she proudly shared.

That isn’t by coincidence—she has primed him for a life of independence despite his developmental delays. In 2022, the daytime talk show host shared insight into her journey as a special needs mom in a heartfelt Instagram post.

She revealed that moving from Los Angeles to New York for her former talk show Sherri wasn’t something she was keen on doing, but she made the sacrifice so that her son could soar.

“My life was in LA, but my friend @teejmercer said ‘Sherri God said New York is not for you but it is for Jeffrey. That is where he will find his independence,’” she said in the caption. “It has been hard for me letting him jump because I want to protect him from everything that could hurt him. But as he says goodbye to me and walks to the A train to Queens with his friends to see the Mets play, I say a prayer to the One who created him that as he spreads his wings, God will be there to catch him.”

While her talk show has ended, the move was seemingly worth it as her now college student learned to navigate the city where, “If you can make it there you can make it anywhere,” on his own.

“This world is cruel but I know that God knows Jeffrey much better than me and I am trusting that within the parameters of his ‘special needs’, he will thrive,” the Instagram caption concluded. “Lord please give me the strength I need for this next leg of this journey.”

As per usual, a mother’s prayers for her children are powerful self-fulfilling prophecies. We are all so glad to hear that Jeffrey is thriving and finding his place in the world.