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If you didn’t know, in the 33 years between Coming to America and its sequel, lead actor and comedian Eddie Murphy has had ten kids. Discussing how the role of fatherhood has changed for him throughout the decades in a recent interview, Murphy opened up about family now being his most important priority.
Speaking with Mirror, Murphy told the British newspaper that as he’s approaching 60 years old, fatherhood has really become the focus of his life. Even though he noted it wasn’t always that way, the intense drive to star in multiple movies each year has decreased because his love for his children has remained so strong.
“I am going to be 60 in April and I have all these babies,” Murphy told the newspaper. “I love fatherhood. That is the center of everything. The whole idea of being out there and doing three movies a year, that sh*t is over. I found it over and over again and along the way. I realized that if you put your children first, you never make a bad decision,” the actor shared in tidbits to the outlet.
“I am so blessed with my kids,” Murphy added. Despite starring alongside one of his daughters in the recently released Coming 2 America, the star said he didn’t play favorites and was happy about how all of his kids have turned out. He continued, “I don’t have one bad seed. I don’t have any like, ‘Oh you are the one’. I don’t have any of that. My kids are so great, normal people – and nobody is like the Hollywood jerk kid.” He wrapped up by saying, “My kids are smart and are trying to do stuff. I am blessed — I really, really got lucky.”
When his youngest son and first grandchild were born just months apart back in 2019, Murphy spoke with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest in an interview about how amusing it was to think about how his family had expanded. He said on their show, “I have my first grandchild. So I think she’s five months — a five-month-old grandchild and a 10-month-old son [laughs]. Guess that makes me a heck of a fella [laughs]. My son is my granddaughter’s uncle.”
Currently spanning from ages two to 31, Murphy shares five children with his ex-wife Nicole Murphy, one each with Paulette McNeely, Tamara Hood, and Mel B, and two children with his fiancée Paige Butcher.
