Celebrity Celebrity Family Celebrity Parenting Stars Share the Most Beautiful Thing Anyone Ever Said to Them "You're a good mom" ranks high By Lydia Price Lydia Price Lydia Price is a former platforms editor at PEOPLE. She left PEOPLE in 2022. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on April 25, 2022 02:40PM EDT Close 01 of 32 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Almay "One day, when I was about 14 years old, I'd had a particularly rough day at school because I had been teased by a boy in one of my classes. He made fun of my makeup. (Hey, I was just 14 … I was still learning how to do it.) At dinner that night, for no reason at all, my dad told me that I looked really pretty. He had no clue about what happened that day, nor is he exactly the kind of guy to give out compliments like that freely. But those words turned a bad day into a really good one." 02 of 32 JULIA ROBERTS Gregg DeGuire/WireImage "When my own mother said I had become an incredible parent." 03 of 32 MINDY KALING Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for CDG "Ever since I was a little girl, my mom instructed me to put lotion on after I shower. I like it when people tell me my skin is soft, because I've been working at it for so long." 04 of 32 KATE HUDSON Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic "Someone said to me ... that one of the qualities they liked most about me is that I always want the people around me to be happy. I never thought about that, but it's true. It was such a nice thing to hear." 05 of 32 LUPITA NYONG'O Fred Lee/ABC via Getty Images "The best compliment I have ever received is that I have good taste in people. A new friend said that I really know how to curate company for a good dinner party." 06 of 32 JENNIFER GARNER Vera Anderson/WireImage "If someone tells me there is something special about my kids, that is the nicest thing they can say to me." 07 of 32 CHARLIZE THERON Frazer Harrison/Getty Images "When my mom told me, 'You are a great mom.' " 08 of 32 MELISSA MCCARTHY Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic "The best compliment I've ever received that wasn't work-related was someone saying to me, 'You have really happy children…well done!' " 09 of 32 SERENA WILLIAMS Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage "When I was traveling with Helping Hands Jamaica, someone said, 'Thank you for helping us build our school. It has been one of the best experiences of my life.' " 10 of 32 SELENA GOMEZ George Pimentel/Getty Images for Sundance Film Festival "My best friend complimented me on how I treat people, which is the biggest compliment someone can give me. She always knows how to say the right thing." 11 of 32 TARAJI P. HENSON Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images "I love you unconditionally." 12 of 32 MELISSA BENOIST Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock "The most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me, I mean this is going to sound really cheesy but I feel like anytime anyone says 'I love you' to me and truly means it and I can feel that they do, that is the most beautiful thing in the world to me. And love is more beautiful than anything happening vanity-wise." 13 of 32 GINA RODRIGUEZ Dan Doperalski/Variety/REX/Shutterstock "The most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me was 'Is there anything I can help you with?' " 14 of 32 ANDREA BARBER Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Netflix/AP "The most beautiful thing that anyone has ever said to me was at the finish line of the L.A. Marathon after I had run 26 miles. My boyfriend gave me a big hug and told me I looked beautiful even though I didn't, I looked awful and sweaty and gross. But for someone to tell you you look beautiful after 26 miles of running is really special." 15 of 32 JENNY MCCARTHY Kevin Mazur/WireImage "The most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me, by far, is my husband who said, numerous times, as I've said 'I just want to look younger or prettier' in my insecure moments, and he says 'You can't ever look more beautiful, you can look different, but never more beautiful.' " 16 of 32 JENNY MOLLEN Gregory Pace/BEI/Shutterstock "The most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me was actually written in a card that I received from [my husband] Jason, when my dog passed away. It was just – I'm going to cry – it was just really beautiful and touching and it made me love him in a way that I didn't obviously before." 17 of 32 JAIMIE ALEXANDER John Lamparski/WireImage "The most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me is that I inspired them. That's always amazing." 18 of 32 CECILY STRONG Monica Schipper/FilmMagic "In high school I had a friend once say that 'When I hang out with you it's like I'm playing, we're always playing.' And I just remember being like 'That's the kind of person I want to be.' And it felt really good to hear that." 19 of 32 PRIYANKA CHOPRA Jason Kempin/Getty "The most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me would probably be that I look my best without makeup. You know how girls get supremely insecure about coming in front of anyone without their makeup? But I've been told many, many times that I look my best without it, so I think that's beautiful." 20 of 32 ZENDAYA Broadimage/REX/Shutterstock "There has been a few times that I've had encounters with fans and there has been many instances where people who you would have no idea that they even know who I am, have come up to me and explained a situation where me doing what I'm doing has really helped them through something, or helped them through a situation, or helped them get out of a negative position that they were in and that's really important to me." 21 of 32 SARAH SILVERMAN Charles Sykes/Invision/AP "The first thing that comes to my mind is the first time my heart was broken. I was walking around Washington Square Park with my mom, and I was sobbing. And I was so surprised because she was like 'Don't let this keep you from falling in love again. Don't let this bad experience make you build a wall, because love is worth the extraordinary pain it often causes.' " 22 of 32 JODIE SWEETIN Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Netflix/AP Images "I think the most beautiful thing anybody has ever said to me was my littlest daughter Beatrix. It was right before bed and she just grabbed my face and said 'You're my most specialist friend in the whole world.' " 23 of 32 HOLLY ROBINSON PEETE Andrew H. Walker/Getty "The most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me was 'Mommy, you inspire me to be an amazing person.' And that would be my son, R.J." 24 of 32 JENNIFER MORRISON Gregory Pace/BEI/Shutterstock "I would say one of the most beautiful things anyone ever said to me was my niece. She's so creative and so artistic and such a free spirit, and it's really fun to watch her. She watched a series of music videos I directed [when she was 4]. She was totally captivated and then when she finished she was like 'I want to direct a movie.' And I loved that. I never really thought about the fact that by doing something like that, and putting it in front of her when she was so impressionable and so able to see the possibilities in something like that, and for her immediate response to be 'I want to direct a movie.'" 25 of 32 TRACEE ELLIS ROSS Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP "I think hearing 'I love you' from my family is the most beautiful thing that's ever said to me. It gives you that certain kind of beauty sparkle." 26 of 32 SANDRA BULLOCK Sandra Bullock. George Pimentel/WireImage "I'm horrible with compliments. I'm better with constructive criticism. But I keep coming back to the one thing that makes me feel the best, and that's when someone actually laughs when I think I'm being funny. I'll go to great lengths for a laugh, and sometimes it results in minor injuries. So worth it!" 27 of 32 SOFIA VERGARA Tibrina Hobson/WireImage "Every time people compliment me about my son Manolo it is very rewarding. I was really young when I divorced his father, so I raised him by trying to set the best example and give him the best that I could. When people say how charming, funny and well-behaved he is, it makes all the sacrifices worthwhile." 28 of 32 KEKE PALMER George Pimentel/Getty "The most beautiful thing someone has ever said to me has probably been somewhere along the lines of 'I feel your spirit' or 'I love your spirit.' Whenever I meet people and that's something that they say, something that's not physical, that makes me feel really awesome." 29 of 32 KERRY WASHINGTON Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for ESSENCE "The first time my mom told me that she thought I was a good mother." 30 of 32 REESE WITHERSPOON Reese Witherspoon. Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic "I'm always really touched when my mother tells me that I'm a good mother. She knows that I really value her opinion and that a big part of my self-worth comes from how I feel as a parent on any given day. She did such a great job raising my brother and me with a lot of love and a great sense of humor. Her compliment holds a lot of value in my life." 31 of 32 SUSAN SARANDON Mike Coppola/Getty "When I was doing Lorenzo's Oil, one of the kids I was working with who couldn't move, I would stay with him in-between takes, and he said 'You look like my mother,' and I didn't look anything like his mother but I really thought that was moving." 32 of 32 NIKKI REED Nikki Reed. Jesse Grant/Getty "The most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me was probably from my dad. He told me that I had a 'beautiful mind.' Education is really important in my family, so I suppose I always sort of held that in some kind of literal way."