Hallmark Star Holly Robinson Peete Reveals Real Reason Behind ‘The Christmas Bond’

One of the most famed TV movie stars, actress Holly Robinson Peete has talked more about the real reason for filming Hallmark’s Christmas movie “The Christmas Bond”.

Earlier this year, PEOPLE reported Hallmark was filming its Christmas movie “The Christmas Bond” as part of Hallmark’s “Miracles of Christmas”programming event, casting for the first time a real person with autism, Nik Sanchez, to rightfully portray his character as Peete’s on-screen teenaged son with autism.

Peete’s character, a single mom, “must learn to let go so he can flourish and finds her own heart healing in unexpected ways,” reads a plot description from Hallmark.

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Hallmark Channel & Autism Spectrum

It is not only Nik Sanchez who has played genuine feelings on the show but also Peete herself for being a real-life mother to her son RJ, who is also on the autism spectrum. In a statement, the celebrity revealed she made the film for her son, “others with autism and their families.”

“I am grateful to Hallmark for bringing this story to screen with authenticity, respect, and hope,” she added.

Ever since the Hallmark holiday actress started her Christmas movie career in the network in 2015 with “Angel of Christmas” as Yvette Collins, it was followed with more films in the succeeding years such as with the series “Christmas In Evergreen” from 2017 to 2019 as Michelle Lansing, to name a few. Yet throughout her career, she’s been very open about her family and has been an advocate of educating people about autism, starting with HollyRod Foundation, which was she originally formed with her husband Rodney Peete to support those with Parkinson’s Disease and to be of support for families with children on the spectrum.

The Christmas Bond’ – “Processing Things Differently”

Holly Peete has recently graced the “Tamron Hall Show” and emotionally recalled receiving RJ’s autism diagnosis a decade ago.

Speaking about the impact of “The Christmas Bond” movie on parents being more comfortable to talk about their children with autism, not putting them in a box anymore, and not seeing the diagnosis as a label, Holly agreed with host Tamron Hall that it’s about “processing things differently.”

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“I wouldn’t change RJ for the world, but I would try to change the world for RJ,” she declared.

The actress also shared that a stranger told her she’ll gonna see the diagnosis as a blessing when she was sobbing the moment upon hearing about Rj’s diagnosis.

“I was like, ‘Please, lady, don’t talk to me,’” Holly recalled.

And now she’s truly understood what the strangers’ words meant: “But then, later on, when I realized the people that we’ve been able to impact, and the conversations we’ve been able to have with people, and the families who feel some kind of way about being able to embrace [autism] because they’ve seen RJ, or because they have hope because they were told their kid would never do anything.”

Keep checking Celebrating The Soaps for more Hallmark Channel movie news and updates!