Adrianna Costa
The television personality discusses motherhood and the art of reinvention in a changing media landscape.
By Lindzi Scharf
Photography by Kate Jones
“I thought that my Achilles heel was going to be having children,” television personality Adrianna Costa says, seated on a pink couch inside her mid-century modern Encino home. “I thought it would be a deal breaker when it came to my career.”
She couldn’t have been more wrong, but didn’t know that at the time.
When Costa began her career in 2003 as an on-camera entertainment journalist for the likes of CNN, E! Entertainment, MSNBC, “Access Hollywood,” “Extra,” “The Steve Harvey Show,” and The Weather Channel’s “Local Now,” she felt lucky to be thriving in a competitive, often cutthroat, industry and was worried that those in hiring positions might count her out.
“I sometimes noticed in the entertainment industry, [there was this belief], like, ‘If you have a family, then you’re not going to be able to focus on work,’” she says. “They think, ‘Well, now this person is unavailable.’ But mothers are the best multi-taskers. We are the ones who wear a bazillion hats and get it all done. The truth is – the mom is the one you should be hiring.”
THE MEN’S MAGAZINE ERA
Costa was also nervous about being seen in a different light. “I was concerned that what I’d always known, which was to turn it on for the men’s magazines, [would change],” she says, referencing the era where publications like Maxim and FHM dominated the newsstands despite often reducing accomplished female musicians, actors, and television personalities to their physical attributes.
In recent years, men’s magazines – including Playboy, which has attempted to rebrand as a more inclusive body positive publication – have become more archaic than the term “girlboss.” But at the start of Costa’s career, these were the publicity opportunities that existed for ambitious women looking to promote their projects and careers – with everyone from Charlize Theron and Kaley Cuoco to Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez gracing the covers of such publications.
Costa didn’t mind. “To me, skin is hot,” she says. “I like to look at it. Not when it’s done in a disrespectful way, but when it’s presented beautifully, I’m all in.” The irony is that she grew up in a modest household. “My mom is super conservative,” Costa says. “Every time I see her, she’s like, ‘Put your boobs away.’ I’m like, ‘Why do I need to do that?’ It’s not lewd in any sense.”
Costa was named one of Maxim’s “Red Hot, Red-Carpet Reporters” while FHM anointed her one of the “100 Sexiest Women in the World.”
“I was worried that that’s why kids would be the career killer for me,” she admits. “But it wasn’t.” Costa pauses. “I mean, there are so many other ways to be sexy and feel good about yourself and being a mom doesn’t make you exempt from those categories. Are you the sex symbol for FHM anymore? No. But that doesn’t mean that you’re not sexy in this new light, you know?”
THE ART OF EVOLVING
The rise of social media gave Costa the ability to create her own dialogue about motherhood – just as platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were disrupting the entertainment news business’s status quo.
“One thing I’ve learned…” Costa says, “you better evolve with the times.”
Admittedly, it took a moment for her to adapt. “I kicked and screamed when we went from linear programing to everything being digital,” she says. “I was like, ‘I’m not doing this. I want to be on the four shows: ‘Access Hollywood,’ ‘Extra,’ [‘Entertainment Tonight,’ and ‘E! News’]. That was all I wanted. Then I realized, there’s so much opportunity beyond that. Honestly, you can end up making a great living doing more than that.”
However, in a pre-social media world, most aspiring entertainment journalists shared a similar dream and had the same roundabout route to getting there.
“I wanted to get into journalism for as long as I can remember,” she says. “Growing up in Los Angeles, I used to watch Steve Edwards, Jillian Barberie, and Dorothy Lucey on Good Day L.A. I would ditch elementary school just to sit and watch them. I thought they were the best and to this day, in my opinion, that’s still the most dynamic trio that’s ever been on morning TV.”
Upon graduating from University of Colorado in 2003 with a degree in broadcast journalism, Costa knew she’d have to pay her dues. “I was flying out applications to Bismarck, North Dakota to report on car accidents,” she remembers. “They never responded to me. I applied to Grand Junction, Colorado.” She even drove to the station to drop off her application in hopes of getting face time with those who were hiring. “I thought, ‘It’s about having an in.’ I hoped that I could persuade the bosses to like me or to give me a shot if I was in front of them, but nothing was happening.”
She eventually heard about an opening with CBS in Palm Springs. “I sent my materials and I said, ‘Listen, I’m going to be in town,’” she remembers. “A news director in L.A., who I happened to know, gave them a heads up. I met with them and I started as an intern.” She eventually worked her way up to feature reporting, which helped her land an agent in Los Angeles and an on-camera correspondent gig with “Access Hollywood.”
LIVING THE DREAM
“These were the days of them pouring a lot of money into us,” Costa says. “I remember I used to do the morning show in Palm Springs at five am and I would get picked up at around noon with a limo from ‘Access Hollywood’ to come to L.A. that night and shoot a red carpet. Then I’d turn around in the limo, sleep, and go do the morning show the next day at five am in Palm Springs. I was living this dual life and soaking it all up. I loved every second of it.”
From there, she landed an entertainment anchor position with CNN Headline News and relocated to Atlanta for two years. But a job with director Steven Spielberg and producer Mark Burnett brought her back to her hometown when she was asked to replace Chelsea Handler as host of “On the Lot,” a filmmaking competition series that aired in 2007. Costa eventually found herself back on the red carpet circuit covering premieres and press junkets in addition to spending time in Las Vegas where she helped grow the Nevada news bureau for “Extra.”
Once Costa had her son Gibson in 2014, she says she found a much-needed sense of balance. “It’s not one-size-fits-all anymore,” she says of her approach to motherhood and her career. “They say the happiest mothers are those who work at least part time because you get the harmony of both. I would not feel right forgetting about my family and putting my job first, but then again, without the job, I would feel like I’d lost myself. I feel accomplished when I work.”
Costa says she’s pleased to see her business – like so many others – evolving. However, there are some obstacles as the industry changes. “The way people get news is just so different,” she says. “Celebrities themselves go to their own Instagram channels or their websites and they break the news themselves. It starts to feel like nothing is ever totally new. We used to be the ones breaking those [entertainment news] stories. I loved that and that changed.”
As a result, her job shifted significantly over the last handful of years.
“[The people hiring] want you to bring in your opinion to everything,” Costa says, “because you’re never really breaking news unless you’re TMZ. These online outlets are the only ones who are breaking news and if you don’t want to be that person stalking [a celebrity] 24/7, then you have to bring something different to the game and that’s perspective and opinion and personality.”
It’s something Costa struggles with given that she entered entertainment journalism because she wanted to be the conduit for shining a light on others. “I’m more fascinated with other people’s stories and how they live rather than talking about what I do or myself,” she says, “but to evolve and adapt is the way that you can continue if you want to keep having a career in this.”
SELF-HELPING
Shortly after the birth of her son, Costa created a blog, “Haute Mom’s Life,” where she shares her personal experiences and advice for new mothers. “I was so isolated and felt like I needed an outlet,” she explains. “I wanted to focus on what would help moms rather than all the baby gear,” she says, explaining that she offers tips like, “This is how you feel good [after giving birth]—physically and mentally. Make sure you’re eating this or make sure you wear this belly bandit because it’s really helpful to contract your muscles.”
The blog’s early origins stemmed from a place of personal panic. “Having my kids was eye-opening,” Costa says. “I struggled a lot because both of my kids – specifically Gibson my first – came unexpectedly – almost six weeks early. So he was rushed to the NICU and was there for almost two weeks. I did not know what the hell was going on. I thought, ‘What did I do wrong to create this situation for my baby?’ I literally did not know if he was going to make it.”
She continues, “Until our pediatrician walked in the room, days later, and said, ‘Your baby is a giant in the NICU. Don’t worry,’ I thought I was going home without a child. That’s where my head was. It was traumatizing. I already suffer from anxiety and depression and I wasn’t medicated during my pregnancy. Because of that, it hit me even harder. I know what triggers it for me, which is stress and lack of sleep. So for that reason, all the ingredients were there.”
At a certain point, Costa says she knew something had to change. “I woke up one day and I was like, ‘I can’t do this,’” she remembers. “I felt like I was unable to take care of myself and take care of my kid. I got back on medication and I started taking better care of myself, sleeping when he slept. You go through so much as a new mom especially when you’re a career woman because you do lose that at first and it’s so much about just taking care of your kid.”
Although women are beginning to normalize such conversations, Costa feels we still have a long way to go. “I honestly don’t believe there’s enough of a support system for new mothers,” she says. “I remember I used to go to the pediatrician’s office and he would look at me and say, ‘How are you?’ And I said, My baby is four pounds and just had tubes down his throat. What do you mean—how am I? How is the baby?’ And he said, ‘No, no, no. How are YOU?’ They were worried about me and my postpartum. Now they have different questionnaires that moms fill out which are pre-requisite once you have a baby to make sure you’re okay.” But it’s taken time to get there.
Looking back, Costa says she would do things differently. “I probably would have felt okay with leaning on people more, but I didn’t,” she admits, though she says she attempted to change her approach once her daughter Sonnet arrived. “She narrowly escaped the NICU but had to go back to the hospital because she had RSV, a respiratory infection that babies [sometimes] get. I remember looking at the nurse and saying, ‘I am not okay. You have to help me.’ Because there is so much shame involved in it. It’s like, ‘I’m doing the most natural thing that you can ever do as a woman.’ But it’s not natural. It doesn’t come naturally to people and some people need more help.”
Because of her experience, Costa became involved with the March of Dimes, a non-profit which advocates for the health and wellbeing of mothers and babies. “In my own small way, I want to help pay it forward with our story and what we went through by getting information out there and being a support system to other moms,” she says. “No one is off limits. That’s for sure. It’s chemical and hormonal. Listen to your body, listen to the signs.”
THE WAY FORWARD
Beyond connecting with other mothers, “Haute Mom’s Life” also introduced Costa to the business of “mommy blogging,” which, she says, can be quite lucrative.
“It definitely subsidizes my income,” she shares, explaining she stumbled into the financial aspect of it. “As the site gained steam, I was introduced to the whole mom circle out here [in Los Angeles] and everybody was having events and there was [sponsored] product galore. These moms realized that this was a great new niche for them; so we would go to these events and then the brands wanted to use you to tout their line. It’s a big business. It really is. My income from there is supplementary, but people make their entire income from Instagram deals. It’s mind-blowing.”
Costa insists that she only endorses products and brands she believes in. “I did a collaboration [recently] with Reima, which is a premium outerwear children’s clothing company,” she says. “I’m fairly specific about brands I’ll team up with.” She credits her background in journalism with helping her navigate the business of blogging. Whether she’s reporting for an entertainment outlet or writing for her site, she believes in “fact-checking and never writing anything that’s not known to be true.” She adds, “I’m glad I have that foundation. My heart and soul is definitely in the journalistic side of [entertainment] and the interviewing more than any of it, but until that comes around again – there’s this.”
NO DAY BUT TODAY
Costa recognizes the irony – that the thing she worried might hold her back wound up being the thing that propelled her and her career forward. “Being a mother ended up helping me tenfold,” she says. “I had more dimension and I was able to talk about what it was like being a mom and the struggles of having newborns who were pre-mature and having the worst postpartum ever. That makes you more relatable. It always comes down to authenticity.”
In addition to her blog and popular Instagram account, Costa works for media mogul Byron Allen and The Weather Channel’s “Local Now.”
“It’s basically like a mini Netflix with different channels,” she explains. “My content airs daily.” She also hosts a show called “Mom Life with Adrianna Costa.” The series follows her life as a mother of two and includes tips from celebrities and experts.
“It’s the greatest situation,” she says. “I cover travel and still do a lot of celebrity news, which I love. It’s the best of all worlds.”
HOW SHE LIVES…
“This is our diamond in the rough,” Costa says of the Encino home she moved into six years ago. She could hardly believe her luck when they found it. “It was owned by the bank. My husband Scott [Gorelick] has always been in real estate. He was on the mortgage side before financing and then he switched over to buying and selling real estate. We were getting ready to move from Sherman Oaks and he found this while looking online. The pictures were horrible. It was the strangest thing. When we walked in, I was like, ‘We can’t afford this. This is way too much for us. The whole thing is too big, too much, too everything.’ But because nobody wanted it, it happened to fit into our budget.” They added a Southwestern flair to the mid-century modern home by filling it with Aztec-inspired pieces, a nod to the fact that they were married in Arizona. “It’s eclectic and it fits our personalities,” she says.
THE PINK ROOM
“This is my favorite room,” she says. “I call it ‘The Pink Room.’ You know how there’s the mom who has plastic on her couches? We don’t physically have the plastic; however, I look at this room like that. Nobody can come in—except adults. The kids know: ‘Don’t mess with the pink room.’ My grandmother had a ‘pretty room’ in her house. This is our version of the pretty room.”
THE NAKED TRUTH
“This is by Pedro Veléz,” she says. “He’s an incredible artist who I keep in touch with on Instagram. Our close friend was an art dealer and so we would get our pieces from him.” She laughs. “We have a lot of naked women in our house. There’s something about naked women in art that inspires us. I like seeing the female form in art and nudity more than I would want to look at a man.”
THE ARTWORK
“This one is by a man named Jorge Santos,” she says. “It’s called ‘Male Order Bride.’ The funny thing is that my children are not fazed by [the art on our walls], but I notice when other kids come to the house sometimes, they’re like, ‘Mommy, boobies.’ To me, it’s that same old discussion: ‘Violence is okay to watch, but nudity is something we should be ashamed of?’ I have a very European viewpoint in that sense. I’m not modest at all. I’m just like, ‘Take it off. It’s all good. It doesn’t matter.’”
THE COUCH
“It’s a Pepto Bismol colored-couch and people are like, ‘Wow. Your husband let you do that?’” she laughs. “The funny thing is that we both chose it together. I love looking at it.”
THE FAVORED PIECE
“This is one of my favorite pieces in the house,” Costa says. “We got this as we were scouting for our wedding in old town Scottsdale. I just love this piece and I’m obsessed with turquoise.” She says her husband is as well. “If you see my husband and what he wears, he’s got a turquoise bracelet, turquoise rings. We just love it.”
THE IRONIC ADDITION
“This is handmade beadwork,” she says. “I actually got this one from a shoot I was on. The man who was cutting my hair—Jason Schneidman who owns THEMENSGROOMER—went to Mexico and got it for me.” Costa adds, “The irony is that I don’t eat meat. I’m a vegetarian; though I eat some fish. But the individuals who make it in Mexico use the entire animal and then this is leftover, so they make art out of it.”
THE ROCK WALL
“We love music,” Costa says. “Whatever you’re into becomes like a religious experience. I am not religious. I’m Jewish, but organized religion doesn’t work for me. My religion is music. My religion is yoga. My religion is feeling healthy and taking care of myself.” She points to a black and white image. “This is one of my favorite pieces by photographer Baron Wolman,” she says. “I met him flying from here to New Mexico. [Before he passed away in November 2020], we’d kept in touch. He was one of the original photographers for Rolling Stone magazine. My husband knew I loved his work. For one of our first birthdays together, he got me this Jim Morrison original piece from San Francisco in 1967.”
THE DAVE MATTHEWS COMMISSION
“Scott had this made for me from an artist on Instagram,” she says of the Dave Matthews-inspired piece by Kristina Marie. “I love Dave Matthews. I’ve been to a million shows.” She says interviewing Matthews for “Extra” was a pinch-me moment in her career. “When you get to interview a hero, there’s nothing better,” she says. “Going down as one of the greatest days of my life is a one-hour sit down with Dave Matthews at his publicist’s house. I’d been working hard to try to land that interview and it was going to get snagged from me. I was like, ‘Not happening!’ If there’s anything I’m going to do before I leave here, it’s going to be interviewing Dave. It was the most monumental career highlight. It hit me that – I had made it in doing what I wanted to do, which is interview fascinating people. I’m not starstruck. I’m talent struck and obsessed with people who are good at what they do and create a difference in some way.”
THE NOSTALGIA
“It’s a nostalgia thing,” she says of her love for Matthews. “I liked him in high school, but then I went to college in Boulder and I started going to see the Dave shows. I would go a couple times a year. In fact, right before COVID, at the end of February, that was the last show I saw in Vegas. He is such a professional when he gets out there. Every night is the best show and there’s camaraderie with the fans. I love this man so much.”
THE SUNGLASSES
“This is Scott’s wall,” she says. “He’s very into glasses. People laugh. They’re like, ‘Look at all those sunglasses.’ I’m like, ‘By the way, they’re my husband’s.’ Some of them are mine, but the majority are his.”
THE SKETCH
“This is from my wedding,” she says pointing to a sketch that hangs in her closet. “Lazaro is a wedding dress designer. He made that for me.”
THE SHOE CLOSET
“I was born in heels,” she jokes. “I have pictures from being in my mom’s closet [wearing her shoes]. I remember rocking red high leather boots and stilettos.”
THE FAUX VENETA
She points to a pair of high heels that mimic a Bottega Veneta design. “You’re going to die when you find out where I got them,” she says. “These were $28 at Forever 21. They’re the greatest knockoff I’ve ever seen. I’ve had so many people ask me about them and I tell them because it’s like, ‘Go get ‘em.’ I don’t even know if they’re there anymore, but go look online because otherwise they’re like $1600 or something crazy.”
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
“I love the Grateful Dead,” Costa says. “My dog is named Jerry Garcia. That kind of rock and roll from the late-sixties and early to mid-seventies became my favorite music. People are saying that Scott’s starting to turn into Bob Weir and I’m like, ‘That’s been the goal the whole time. We’re going to change your hair.’”
HER DAUGHTER’S ROOM
“The kids are a big part of everything,” she says.
HER HOME OFFICE
“I have a roving office,” she says. “I literally will sit here with my computer and then I’ll go to the kids room and then I’ll lay down the grass outside.”
THE UNICORN HEADBAND
“This is my prized possession,” she jokes upon noticing a unicorn headband on her nightstand. “Sonnet left this here for me.”
THE MEET-CUTE
“This picture was taken by a family friend,” she says. “This was the first time I went away with Scott. It was a candid snap. We were madly in love and then kids get in the way and they make you crazy, right?” She says that she and her husband met many years before they started dating. “We have a crazy story,” she says. “I knew Scott in 2000. I was 18. He was 22. We met at a bar and had mutual friends. I liked him – 21 years ago – but he was on hitting on my friend. I was like, ‘Oh, he likes my friend.’ That was it. Nothing happened.”
She continues, “I’d heard his name over the years randomly. Ten years later, I ran into him again at a bar and I was getting out of a relationship. He was like, ‘Are you seeing anyone?’ He hit on me hard at that point and wanted to date. I moved in with him immediately. I officially moved in within three weeks, but I was living there basically from day one. It was meant to be. I later asked him, ‘Why were you hitting on my friend?’ He said, ‘That’s the guy’s playbook. That’s what they do. They hit on the friend and then at the end of the night they swoop in and get the one they want because they want to get the girl jealous.’ I’m like, ‘That’s totally fucked up.’”
THE COINCIDENCE
Their story doesn’t end there. “It gets weirder,” she says. “I was a chubby kid and so I used to obsess over this book called ‘Staying Thin for Kids’ when I was eight years old. We were hanging out one night when we first met. He was like, ‘I used to model.’ He was showing me his portfolio – and he was on the cover of ‘Staying Thin for Kids.’ He was the cover model. It was this random book and he was on the cover of it. I remember seeing him. But talk about manifesting and things that are more than just coincidences. Isn’t that a crazy story?”
HER D.I.Y. APPROACH
“I always say, ‘Make sure you can do it on your own,’” Costa advises aspiring broadcast journalists and bloggers. “You have to cover every base. During lockdown, I went from having a camera man and hair and make-up team to doing my own hair and make-up and shooting my own stuff, editing the videos, and uploading them.”
