Sherri Shepherd Talks Her 13-Year-Old Son's 'Developmental Delays': 'He's Perfectly Imperfect'

Sherri Shepherd can’t wait to see what her son does next.

During the Real Love: Relationship Reality TV’s Past, Present & Future event in Beverly Hills, California, on Tuesday, the actress and former co-host of The View opened up in a chat with PEOPLE about 13-year-old Jeffrey Charles, who is a “special needs” child.

“He’s got developmental delays,” said Shepherd, 51, raving of her son, “I know that God created this little boy, who’s so yummy and special, and I have to accept him just in his little imperfect perfections. He’s perfectly imperfect in every way.”

“I love him no matter what, and I don’t compare him to other typical children,” she explained. “He is who he is … I [put] him in an improv class. He gets to be silly and nerdy.”

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But despite his delays, it seems Jeffrey, like his mom, is destined for a life on stage. “I said, ‘You’re going to be a doc?’ And he goes, ‘No, Mommy, I have to make people laugh,’ ” Shepherd recalled.

“And I went, ‘He’s going to be 40 years old, living in my basement with white socks and flip-flops.’ I was not happy,” she joked to PEOPLE.

But what if Jeffrey’s name ends up in lights? “Maybe he’ll be a big-time producer and make a great movie and be an SNL player,” mused the star, referring to herself as “a single mom who loves her kid” and “just want(s) other people to love him too.”

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Shepherd recently lost 25 lbs. by following the popular keto diet, revealing earlier this month that she had given up sugar for more than 260 days running.

“Being off sugar has given me clarity about my career and where I want to go, and re-energizing my career and reinventing myself,” she told PEOPLE on Tuesday. “I’m more into my stand-up comedy. I’m on a tour now. It’s opened up my brain to go, ‘What else can we do? Where can we go now?’ ”

“You’ve got to be willing to go through the world,” Shepherd continued. “I was committed to my health. My son asked me, ‘If you died, Mommy, who’s going to be my bodyguard?’ “