Cupshe x Olivia Culpo
Cupshe x Olivia Culpo. Photo: Sarah Krick
Olivia Culpo is gaining a new appreciation for motherhood.
The pregnant model, 32, opens up about one of the things that she has learned from her pregnancy journey during a recent interview with PEOPLE about her partnership with Cupshe. Culpo, who's expecting her first baby with her husband Christian McCaffrey, says this experience has shown her just how much she needs her mother.
"I feel like I have a lot of respect for my mom and one thing that I realized through this experience of becoming a mom is actually how much I've needed my mom, which I didn't anticipate," she tells PEOPLE. "She's just been so helpful to me, especially in the beginning of my pregnancy. That was really tough. It's just kind of an interesting thing, and I'm just so grateful to her."
"It's just an ironic thought that you need your mom the most when you're about to become a mom," she adds. "That's just genuinely how I felt."
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Olivia Culpo.
Sarah Krick
Pregnant Olivia Culpo Is ‘Excited’ to Welcome Her First Baby — and Shares What She’s Looking Forward to as New Mom (Exclusive)
The expectant mom shares that her mother Susan had five children and was "extremely selfless." She tells PEOPLE that no matter what was going on, her mom always made their home feel "very warm" in one particular way.
"I don't even know where to begin, but she always made our house feel very warm through food," she says. "But, she's always cooking and always feeding people, and I just feel like it makes a house."
"I feel like food is love in our family," she continues. "And I'm definitely going to take that thought process with me when I have my own family too. Just always making sure that the community around food and meal time is there."
Cupshe x Olivia Culpo.
Sarah Krick
Culpo shares that homemade pizza is the one dish that she's excited to make with her baby when the time comes, especially because it includes a particular item that has been passed down for generations in her family.
"We have a pizza pan that has been passed down now for four generations," she tells PEOPLE. "It sounds so simple, but it's our famous family pizza pan."
Culpo and the San Francisco 49ers running back, 28, announced that they are expecting their first baby together via a post on Instagram in early March. In the photos, Culpo could be seen wearing a flowy dress and kneeling, as she placed a hand under her belly. In another snap, the mother-to-be turned towards the camera and placed a hand on her hip.
"Next chapter, motherhood 🤍," she wrote alongside black-and-white photos from her maternity shoot.