KaDee Strickland: How Having a Child Strengthened My Marriage

For KaDee Strickland, becoming a mother meant more than welcoming her son Atticus into the world — it also meant impossibly falling deeper in love with her husband, Jason Behr.

“He’s a unicorn, he’s out of this world,” she told PEOPLE while attending The John Varvatos 12th Annual Stuart House Benefit in West Hollywood on Sunday.

While being equated with everybody’s favorite mythological horse may seem extreme, Strickland explains that parenthood has only intensified the bond between herself and the man she met while filming The Grudge in 2004.

“I fell madly in love with him, but I had no idea just how extraordinary he was until I saw him become a father,” the Secrets and Lies star, 39, says. “I thought I did, but if a person can become a better version of themselves, which I didn’t know was possible with him, he did. He’s remarkable. And he was remarkable for me throughout the pregnancy, throughout the birth. Every day, he amazes me.”

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But Behr isn’t the only man who has captured Strickland’s heart: Their 18-month-old son Atticus is showing signs of following in his father’s footsteps.

“He literally can use chopsticks,” Strickland says with a mixture of pride and awe. “He can pick up food with chopsticks and eat with them. It’s so fun, we sit there and we’re like, ‘Big boy!’ He does things constantly. He can speak a little Japanese, a little French.”

All of which is a precociousness that keeps the actress and her husband on their verbal toes.

“After hearing us say, ‘Can you dig it?’ [he] can repeat, ‘Can you dig it?’ Not because we’re like, ‘Say it,’ but just because he picks up on everything,” she says, laughing. “So we have to be very careful these days with our language. Mama does.”

And while Strickland felt that she was prepared for her role as a mother, she is not blind to the profound impact that parenthood has had on her as well.

“I’d always heard that you’d wear your heart on the outside of your body,” the actress says. “I believed that to be true, but it’s such a rich experience. What surprised me about motherhood, because I think I was a mother the minute I got pregnant, was how empowering pregnancy was.”

An empowerment that Strickland admits was physical as well as emotional. “I’ve never appreciated my body more, or being a woman more, personally,” she says.

“I’ve always loved women, like I am so pro women, but man, am I pro women that raise children, whether they came from their body or not. To raise a child is such a remarkable feat, especially with technology. It’s a gift.”

That being said, it may be a while before she and former Roswell star Behr add to their family.

“We’re enjoying him right now, but if somebody showed up, I wouldn’t be upset about it,” Strickland shares. “I think, right now, we have plenty to do. He was walking before nine months, and he’s been running ever since. I think I need to get caught up on sleep before I [have another baby].”

— Reagan Alexander