Tia Mowry Repurposed Wedding Ring from Ex-Husband Cory Hardrict

"At the end of the day, I need to make this decision for me," the actress said

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Tia Mowry is giving new life to her wedding ring.

On the Oct. 11 episode of her new reality show Tia Mowry: My Next Act, the mother-of-two — who shares son Cree, 13, and daughter Cairo, 6, with ex-husband Cory Hardrict — decided to repurpose her wedding ring into something special for her children.

"I haven't worn it for almost two years now, and it just doesn't feel right to sell it," Mowry, 46, said in the episode. "But what I am wanting to do is change my wedding band into something for my kids. Pass it down, you know, to my kids, because they have been my biggest gift."

The actress then grew emotional as she continued to explain her situation. "I haven’t worn it. It's just been sitting… It was very pretty,” Mowry said of the ring.

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Mowry called her decision "sad" and noted that the ring "is a symbol of a marriage and it is no longer."

The episode followed the Sister, Sister alum as she visited a jewelry shop for a consultation and discussed what she wanted to get made for her children. "It's been two years and what I want to do is to take my wedding ring and turn it into some nice pieces, jewelry pieces, for my two kids,” she told the shop employee.

Later, in a confessional, Mowry explained that she had been thinking of Hardrict, 44, throughout the process. "It's hard for me to not think about Cory when I am deciding to repurpose my wedding band because he is the one who gave me my wedding ring," she said, before recalling his romantic proposal. "I was so surprised. So it's very hard for me not to think about what he would think."

She continued, "But I am learning that, at the end of the day, I need to make this decision for me. And I think because it's going to the kids, he'll be okay."

At the jewelry store, Mowry decided to make Cree a necklace and Cairo a bracelet.

"I just think it's so beautiful to transform something that was given out of love and to give it to your children. It just makes me feel like my marriage wasn't a waste," she explained. "I did the right thing."

Mowry and Hardrict finalized their divorce in April 2023 after announcing their split in October 2022 after 14 years of marriage.

"I have always been honest with my fans, and today is no different. I wanted to share that Cory and I have decided to go our separate ways," Mowry wrote in an Instagram statement at the time. "These decisions are never easy, and not without sadness. We will maintain a friendship as we co-parent our beautiful children.”

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In the first episode of her reality series, Mowry shared that the dating scene is intimidating to her as Hardrict was her "first everything."

"I wasn’t even allowed to date until I was 18 years old," she said. "I met Cory when I turned 20 and I lost my virginity at 25. There, I said it! And then we got married! Boom!"

Earlier this month, Mowry told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that she is not hiding her difficult emotions surrounding the divorce from her children.

"The thing is as a mother, you kind of try to figure out if you should allow them to see your emotions, your ups and your downs. And I've made the choice to move from an authentic place,” the Family Reunion star said. "And allow [Cairo] to see that there are days when Mommy is sad. And that's okay."

"But I think what's just so beautiful about children is just because they're young, it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't have a voice," she added. "It doesn't necessarily mean that they don't know what's going on or they don't know how to feel."