Uzo Aduba on Losing Her Mother and Becoming a Mom Herself: From ‘Loss and Leaving’ to ‘Life and Receiving’ (Exclusive)

Uzo Aduba is settling into her newest role — mom.

Speaking to PEOPLE for this week’s PEOPLE in 10, the actress, 43, opened up about becoming a mom to her daughter Adaiba, 9 months, whom she shares with husband Robert Sweeting. While talking about her new book The Road Is Good, Aduba reflected on the advice she learned from her own mom.

“What I learned from my mother that I did not expect when I set out on this journey is that life is filled with so many stories. So many chapters,” the star says.

“So whatever moment, story you’re living in right now, it is not the final story. That life is long. It is long and it has many different seasons and I learned that unexpectedly in the process of this book. The season I was in when I was writing this of loss and leaving is not the season that I’m in now, which is life and receiving.”

Aduba then played Roses and Thorns, a game where the actress had to pick one good thing (rose) and one negative thing (thorn) about being a mom.

“Roses, I have a daughter. Thorns, I have not slept,” Aduba laughs.

Aduba went on to say that although she’s so in love with her baby girl, it’s really her husband Sweeting who is the most obsessed with baby Adaiba.

“One of us has her wrapped around their finger and it’s not me. That’s his princess,” Aduba says of her husband.

“Her name literally means daughter of the kingdom, which makes her the daughter of the people. Everybody, because she’s the first-born granddaughter. And so that’s his princess.”

Speaking with PEOPLE in March about becoming a new mom, Aduba shared that it’s been the “role of a lifetime.”

“It’s truly just amazing. It’s the role of a lifetime. It is certainly one of the most thrilling parts I’ve ever played, being a mother,” said Aduba.

“It’s taught me so much about myself. It has taught me a lot about how I want to exist in this world. It’s made me stronger, but it has also shown me how strong I am at the same time,” she added of being a mom. “It really is the greatest gift that I’ve ever experienced.”