Kevin Hart is getting real about his role as a dad — specifically, some things he isn’t proud to admit. In a candid “Red Table Talk” takeover for Father’s Day, Will Smith invited longtime friend and comedian Kevin Hart to the table for an intimate conversation where they break down stereotypes about Black fathers and share personal confessions about raising kids.
Hart, who has four children, Heaven, 16, Hendrix, 13, Kenzo, 3, and Kaori, 8 months, detoured from his trademark banter for the intimate one-on-one conversation, in which he addressed the 2017 news that he cheated on his wife, Eniko Parrish, who was pregnant at the time as reported by Yahoo News.
Recalling how he told his kids, he said:
You’re never prepared for that side of it. Having a little girl in my life, it’s tough. You don’t realize the impact that your mistakes can truly have. When the kids get involved, it’s a different feeling. My daughter was tough on me, until this day my daughter is tough on me. Getting my daughter to understand that I was sorry, that I made a mistake, that was real. Through my public debacles, I’ve got on some armour. It’s very hard to bother me. But when your child shows disappointment, shows emotion, shows, ‘I don’t understand why,’ and you’ve got to have those conversations, your head drops for the first time. You realize there’s an emotional cord that nobody else has the privileges of ever touching.
While Hart said he’s usually not bothered about what people say about him in the press and on social media, he had to make an effort to understand why it’s not as easy for Heaven to brush things off.
“My daughter had a talk with me about her mother that rocked me. She checked me,” he recalled to Smith. “She said, ‘I want you to stop saying because when you say these things, Dad, this and this and this.’ ‘But honey, I don’t mean — I’m just talking.’ ‘It doesn’t matter, Dad.’” “‘But honey, I’m just being myself,’” Hart continued. “‘Dad, you can’t.’”
Hart also opened up about co-parenting with his ex, Torrei Hart, who’s the mother of Heaven and his son Hendrix.
“I am very lucky to have two amazing mothers,” Hart said. “Me and my first wife, we’ve had our ups and downs. But we’re in a great space of understanding.”