Photo:courtesy Nicole Ari Parker

Nicole Ari Parker and Sophie credit: courtesy Nicole Ari Parker

courtesy Nicole Ari Parker

And Just Like That…Nicole Ari Parkeris sending her daughter off to college.

Parker, 52, and her husband,Boris Kodjoe, 50, share 18-year-old daughter Sophie, who is headed toHoward Universityin D.C. in the fall.

Though Parker feels confident that she’s prepared Sophie — who was born with spina bifida — to take care of herself on her own, nothing will change the fact that there’s going to be a “hole in our hearts and in our home” with Sophie away at school, says Parker.

“We’re going to just pack the Kleenex and buy a microwave for the room and just sit there and cry,” theSex and the Cityrevivalstar tells PEOPLE.

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Boris Kodjoe and Sophie instagram no credit posted 6/17/23

And, while Mom isn’t afraid to admit that there will be tears aplenty between her and Kodjoe, there’s another family member who may be even more sad without Sophie around.

“I’m just going to miss her. And her little brother, who’s 6'6", so he’s the big little brother, it’s going to be a big adjustment for him. Their rooms are right next to each other. We moved into this house when they were little, so they still share a Jack and Jill bathroom,” says Parker. “I feel sorry for Nicholas now with all of her makeup and hair products on his side of the bathroom, but he’s going to miss that.”

The good news is, Sophie will be a more than self-sufficient freshman when she’s off on her own at Howard.

PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty

US actress Nicole Ari Parker arrives on May 26, 2022 to attend the annual amfAR Cinema Against AIDS Cannes Gala at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d’Antibes, southern France, on the sidelines of the 75th Cannes Film Festival. (Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP) (Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)

“She’s learned discipline [from her condition],” explains Parker. “She has a level of self-care that I don’t even have in terms of her daily regimen, her food and her water intake to keep her kidneys healthy. It’s shaped her level of responsibility. At 5, she had that squared away.”

Still, with all the “confidence” in the world in her daughter, Parker admits she won’t be able to help but check in.

Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max

Ari Nicole Parker HBO MAX And Just Like That… Season 1 - Episode 10

And, if all else fails?

“I might get a studio apartment [in D.C.] and just not tell her,” Parker quips.

For more on Nicole Ari Parker, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.

source: people.com