Matt Damon
What the family dinner was missing
He insisted on gathering. His daughter reminded him why.
7 minute read
From the parents behind Their First
Dads with
Daughters
Famous fathers.
Familiar moments.
What do they tell their daughters? What do they make time for? Eleven famous fathers on family dinners, bedtime stories, getting it wrong and trying again.
Find your next readMeet the dads
The opening story
Matt Damon
What the family dinner was missing
Family dinner, a two-week travel rule and the small jobs he misses as his daughters grow up.
Read Matt Damon’s story 7 minute readThe collection
A little time for a good story.
Eleven fathers. Eleven ways in.
MGK
The words he wants her to hear at home
On telling her she is beautiful, being a safe embrace and making memories with his girls.
6 minute read
Eminem
Giving his children more than things
What school visits, work schedules and protected privacy meant to him.
6 minute read
Barack Obama
The appointment he meant to keep
At home, even the president’s big news could give way to a child’s small one.
8 minute read
Kobe Bryant
The advice his daughter handed back to him
A coach on the court, a singer at bath time and an eager audience for bedtime stories.
6 minute read
Adam Sandler
The bedtime story his toddler kept rewriting
Sandler supplied the giant waffle. His daughter supplied the next idea—and he kept the story going.
7 minute read
Bruce Willis
He let the director direct his daughter
When Rumer joined him in Hostage, he made her audition. Once she had the part, Dad left her scenes to someone else.
7 minute read
Dwayne Johnson
The promise that didn't need a reply
He knew the words he wanted his daughter to hear. He also knew she didn't owe him an answer.
7 minute read
Ryan Gosling
An actor still learning how to play dolls
His daughters had invented the characters. Gosling knew their jobs and relationships, but wasn’t sure where he fit.
6 minute read
Stephen Curry
The photo he turned down at her practice
Curry had made time to watch his daughter. Then the requests started arriving, and he had to protect it.
8 minute read
Jamie Foxx
The habits his daughter needed him to change
After missed time and late arrivals, Foxx said the discipline had to begin with him.
8 minute read
Why these stories
Something to take home.
We’re parents, too. We came for the stories: the advice a daughter remembers, the game Dad always plays, the conversation that changed him. There is something here to laugh at, recognize and bring into your own family.
Drawn from public interviews, essays and family recollections, with sources linked in every profile. These are independent editorial profiles; the people featured are not affiliated with Their First.
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