For a mom of four, you’ve got a lot on your work plate: Dancing with the Stars and She’s Got the Look for TV, ModernMom.com, plus your upcoming book, The Naked Mom.

How’s it all going? I’ve spent the last year working on my book, and I’m really passionate about that. It’s about how I manage my career and run my family. I’m also the CEO of ModernMom.com, so in addition to my television work I have a corporate job. We have so much to learn from one another about raising a family, which is why I’m so passionate about this online mommy space. Of course, my most glamorous gig is Dancing with the Stars.

Did you always want to be on TV? No, I studied business advertising first, then broadcast journalism. I was randomly discovered by a modeling agency and started doing print ads, and then I moved to L.A. from Arizona and started doing commercials. My first TV stint was working for E! channel, traveling around the world hosting Wild On. I was actually pregnant with my first child at the time.

Click here for behind-the-scenes photos of Brooke and her family.

So you continued shooting Wild On after you gave birth? When I had my oldest, Neriah, I never left her. Traveling around the world was part of my job, and I took her to 40 countries by the time she was 2. I wasn’t going to leave my baby at home; we were a package deal. It’s all about what works for you and what you decide to do with your family. For me, I felt like those younger years were super-important.

You won your season of Dancing with the Stars, but you didn’t seem to need the show to get into shape. How do you look so great after having four kids [Neriah, 10, Sierra, 8, Rain, 3, and Shaya, 2]? Dancing was the best thing I ever did because it was such an unbelievable workout. I try to eat healthy, and I do a lot of Pilates Plus. I also wrapped my belly, which totally works. I think it’s your best natural approach to getting back in shape after a baby, so I developed a product called Tauts. It’s a compression garment that helps your belly go back to its original size quickly. It feels really good and makes a huge difference. Many European, Asian and Central American women do this. I wore it day and night for 40 days, and it totally helped my belly get back in shape after my third and fourth babies. That’s my little secret.

How do your kids react when they see you on magazine covers in swimsuits? Do they know about your Playboy photos? My younger ones wouldn’t even know what Playboy is. My older daughters are too young to have that conversation right now. They know I was a model, and they like seeing the contrast of Mommy in sweats to being all glamorized. I don’t think any of my children are going to grow up being judgmental. Many respectable women in the industry have graced the cover of Playboy. So I don’t think it’ll ever be an issue or a problem or anything confusing for my kids.

One of the toughest times for moms of young children is leaving for work. How do you handle those hard goodbyes? I’ve been pretty fortunate in my career, and I take my kids with me a lot. My older girls understand that I go to work so that we can do and have certain things. I try to pull out activities to keep my little ones busy when I’m busy. And I always let them know what I’ll be doing, when I’ll be home, and that I will always come back. It’s important for a working mother to have that dialogue with her children.

Being a contestant on Dancing with the Stars seems like a huge commitment. What made you want to do it? I’ve done so many things in television, but I wanted people to see a different side of me, see me as a working mother. It was a really great platform for that. I’d never danced before, and I like to do things that scare me and challenge me. It was a great experience for my three girls to see me commit the time and the energy and really devote myself to something. They fell in love with dance during that experience. 

Do you still bring your kids to work? Everyone in my office at Modern Mom knows I’ve got toys and a couch for my kids there, and everyone at Dancing with the Stars knows I have a play area set up for my kids there. Sometimes if I’m working on a job out of town and it’s not during the school year, I’ll switch off with my two older girls and let them each join me so they really get a chance to see what I do for a living. My three daughters love coming on set whenever I’m working, hanging out in my dressing room and playing dress-up. They’re very much girly girls. My son, the youngest, is usually just trying to destroy everything and shoot make-believe bad guys.

With your busy work schedule, how do you carve out quality time with your family? That’s the question of the year! We have family dinners practically every night and do a lot of barbecues on the weekends, too. I also try to have one-on-one time with each of my children. I’ll go horseback riding with my 8-year-old or I’ll take a music class with my 2-year-old. So everyone feels like they do something with me that’s special and just for them.

Can you reveal a recent “tough mom moment”? I share custody of my older girls with their dad. Now that they’re getting older, we committed last summer to each having them for two weeks straight, which is a long time—I’d never been away from them for that long. So one of the hardest moments was saying goodbye to them. That’s something I really struggle with—not being with them every day. I think shared custody can be harder on the parents than it is on the children. You divorced when your two older daughters were little. Was it difficult explaining the situation to them? It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I think it’s really important for people to get outside advice and try to find the right words that your children can understand at their age. It’s ongoing. It’s never easy. I have a great relationship with my ex, and we’re committed to raising our family together, so it’s kind of a best-case scenario. But it’s still difficult. And I also deal with my girls separating from their younger siblings. They know their schedule and that it’s the best routine for them. Their younger brother and sister know that they’re always coming back. It is what it is.

You’re now with actor and singer David Charvet, who’s the father of Rain and Shaya. How did you meet? We met in Mexico when we were 21. I was hosting a CBS show called Rock Star. We had an on-and-off relationship for many years, then we were friends for a long period of time. After I separated from my husband in 2005, we got back in touch again and decided it was now or never. And we made a commitment and moved in together a year later.

Do you and David manage to get some alone time? We try to go on a date once a week, but that doesn’t always happen. We’ll have a romantic dinner by candlelight after the kids go to sleep. Sometimes we want time alone, but we’re just too tired. After all, we have two kids under age 3 who aren’t sleeping through the night.

And you have seven animals at home, too? I have two new kittens, two new German shepherd puppies, a chocolate Lab, a bearded dragon lizard and fish. We had the Lab first. I grew up with German shepherds and really wanted to get new puppies for the kids, but I wanted to wait until Shaya was walking so he didn’t get trampled through that puppy stage. And the kittens were a bribe for Rain to start sleeping in her own bed—we’re still working on that. I think it teaches the kids responsibility, too. At this point, it’s kind of “the more, the merrier.”

You’re always tweeting or blogging. Do you ever just disconnect? I do. I’ll take a little tech break once in a while. I try to do it when I’m on vacation. I don’t have my cell phone on at night. But most of the women who work at Modern Mom are mothers, so we do a lot of our work online and at home. It’s a catch-22.

What are the best and worst things about being a mom? The family bond is the greatest thing I know. I’m not sure if there’s a worst part, but it could be that most mothers become last on the totem pole, especially if you have a big family.

Do you ever get to move up that totem pole? Not really—I think it’s more about acceptance for me. I probably am just as happy taking care of everybody else as taking care of myself.