Wayne Brady Reveals the 'Biggest Difference' He's Found When Parenting Kids with a 20-Year Age Gap (Exclusive)
The actor shares daughter Maīle with his ex-wife Mandie Taketa, and son Val with his ex-girlfriend Tina
Wayne Brady is opening up about being a dad to two kids with a 20-year age gap.
While chatting with PEOPLE at the 2024 Bring Change to Mind Revels & Revelations event in California, the actor, 52, candidly discussed the "different energy level" he's noticed in himself when parenting his son Val, almost 2, as opposed to his 21-year-old daughter Maīle, whom he shares with ex-wife Mandie Taketa, 48.
"It's a different energy level in parenting. I had Maīle when I was 30, so now with Val, in terms of the physical energy that it takes to run around with him, I can still do it [but] it's a little harder," he tells PEOPLE.
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Brady is also a co-parent of Taketa and her boyfriend Jason Fordham's son Sundance-Isamu "Sunny," whom they welcomed through adoption in September 2021. While running around with his little ones is a little more challenging, there are also many aspects that Brady finds easier this time around.
"The thing I think with Val that I benefit from is I've been there once, now I've been to the rodeo, so I think I'm a little better as a parent," he says, adding that even Maīle has noticed his improved parenting skills.
"Maīle even laughs, she says. 'The funny thing about Sunny and Mandie and Val and myself is, you two aren't the parents that I grew up with. Val and Sunny get these parents who have done therapy and worked on themselves and they know parenting. I grew up with the two of you and we all grew up together.'"
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Brady adds, "So that's the biggest difference, is I've got a little more parenting under my belt."
As a guest on The Jennifer Hudson Show on Tuesday, Oct. 8, the actor opened up about what it took for his untraditional family to get to the healthy place they're in today as they discussed their new reality show Wayne Brady: The Family Remix.
Asked how he's so authentic in sharing his family dynamic, Brady replied, "So much therapy."
"Therapy and family, and it feels amazing," he continued. "This show and us creating it, it was a way of entering this second act of life of trying to live in authenticity."
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Read the original article on People.