Kevin Hart is Building a New Family Legacy: Here’s How

I will not knock anybody that is dealing with any type of mental struggle because that is something that's so serious because nobody understands what that is except that person. So I never talk as if that's an easy thing. I talk as if that's a thing that I don't fully know about. So you can only have some type of remorse and feeling of understanding for people that are battling any type of mental illness or mental health because that's just a different monster and different machine. So whatever the reasons to escape that are for you and from you, that's something that's TBD, to be determined between you and whoever's trying to help you. People on the outside, we got no right. We got no right if you're not fucking dealing with the same thing. You got no right to judge that ever. There's no way we can understand what's going on. No way I can understand what's going on in your head other than you telling me about it and me trying to decipher it and trying to put it into words. But that's one of the more interesting things about talking to people. It's like when you talk to people and you find out how they feel and think about things that shifts your own ideas of what life is. And I try to look at life through other people's eyes. And the only way you get that is through them talking. I mean, I'm dealing with it now with my kids. I got two teenagers. So my daughter, you know, my daughter got mad. This is a while ago. She got so mad. She was just forget it. And it was like a little rage. I didn't attack her for it. I said, there's something that made you do that. It's bigger than just this. It's not about what we're dealing with now. I said, that was that was something else that I've never seen. And I said, I'm gonna give you a second. Take some time to yourself. I said later, if you want to talk about anything, your dad is here. So let's let's talk if you want to. And we got this thing called free speaking zone and our house free speaking zone means as a parent, I can't get mad at you about what you said. I got to give you a conversation based off what you said. And I got to act as if you're not my child for that moment. You cannot abuse free speaking zone, though. You can't abuse it. That don't mean every time you're in trouble, free speaking zone, you're abusing it. And now you risk free speaking zone going away. I like that idea. So you got to use it correctly. So you know, my daughter came to me and and like the nicest voice, she was like free speaking zone. And I was like, yeah, I said, what's up? And she just started talking to me about some things that were bothering her. And when when we talk, what I found is I can relate to my daughter because I know for sure that where I come from. It's allowed me to see exactly what she's seeing plus so much more plus so much more. And this was a this was a time where the hair was an issue. My daughter went through a big hair thing. You know, she wanted her hair to be a certain way. And the hair wouldn't there was no way to her hair was going to look like what she wanted it to. So the discussion was, honey, as a young black girl, your hair is not going to do what your friend's hair does. You know, my daughter goes to a private school. There's white girls here. You got some mixed girls here. And you know, these girls are out and they can jump in the pool, get out and their hair is a certain way. I'm like, honey, yours isn't going to do that. But if you want a different look, then that means that we can work on ways to obtain it. But honey, it's not going to happen overnight. And I had to make sure that my daughter understood how beautiful she was. I had to make sure that my daughter understood why it's OK for her hair to be different and be unique and not the same. I had to go into a full father programming of making you understand your value. And my daughter needed that. But it wasn't it wasn't something that just came out of nowhere. Like dad, I want to talk to you about my hair. It was an anger that she later than came and wanted to discuss. But if I didn't have the free speaking zone, that's some shit that just would have been in and never talked and never talked about. But I gave her something that she used as a as a reason to say what I don't like and don't judge me, dad. But this is really making me mad. Well, it seems like you've developed this philosophy that applies not just to work and and not just to success, but also to family and relationships. There's a lot of carry over in all of this. It's like accepting things for what they are, but looking at a positive way to improve them, even in terms of just communication with your family. I mean, that's priority. Yeah. Priority number one. I mean, that's this. It's so it's so dope to be able to build what we're building because it's not a tradition. This is not we don't have a family tradition. We're the first. Right. This is the first. Right. Mom and dad, same house, kids, dogs and dinner at night at six p.m. I don't come from that. I don't know how to do that. So we are now learning that, you know, divorced ex-wife, new wife, step kids, new kid, brothers and sisters coincide with ex-wife, new wife. Make sure that we all understand this is our world. How do we call parent bumps? Of course. Figuring it out. Of course. Kids, household in our household. Let's build something. Dinners. Let's make this a thing. Conversations, no phones. Let's make it a thing. Movie night, Taco Tuesdays, game night. All this silly shit that you may look past are memories. Family trips, family walks, walking the dogs together. All of this shit we're building. So I'm fascinated at giving my kids stories to hold on to. When they get older, remember that time when we did said things, said things, said things. Where were we at that summer? Remember when such and such happened and you fell into the thing and dad had to come get you? Oh my God, you know what? Dad, you know what I want to go back to? You know what we want to do? We're building it. So my hope is that as I grow older, I'm able to look at a new era within the heart, within this heart family name, this heart legacy. I'm looking at generations. I got two sons. I got two sons, man. That's an unbelievable thing because this name goes. I got a daughter. That's my oldest. I'm about to have another daughter. Like now it's like, fuck, have you really, it's bigger than you. It's about this and it's about what they have, but it's about what they remember. I'm doing my part in life to go back to what we talked about earlier by making this generation better than what I was. I'm giving you the fucking tools, guys. You don't got to do what I do. You don't got to be what I am, but I'm giving you the tools to at least want to aspire to be.