In addition to preparing to honor the fathers in our lives with presents and other tributes on Father's Day, we also want to give a special shout-out to the famous fathers who have, well, absolutely failed. We're not currently discussing the actual failures. Dads who are absent, abusive, or uninvolved are out of the discussion. In this article, we’ll be talking about the celeb dads who are not doing so great as a parent while trying their best to have more effective parenting.
Numerous parents, including some of our favorite famous parents, have admitted to having failed as parents. And we must admit, it only deepens our affection for them. Keeping it honest about the fact that even the most loving parents occasionally make errors can be really liberating. Yes, parents can make mistakes and their children are still fine.
Enjoy the embarrassing parenting fails below with 15 famous dads who were willing to share their stories in the spirit of Father's Day!
#1 Tom Brady
Tom Brady, enchanted Taylor Swift lyrics" />Source: tombrady
Tom Brady may not have the most relatable life, but any parent with a demanding career may relate to his sentiments of being a bad father. He acknowledged that he was concerned that he hasn't been as involved in his children's life as his own father was in his 2021 documentary Man in the Arena. "He comes to mind when I consider becoming a father because of how much my father meant to me. I am aware that I am not being a good father to my children as my father has been "said he.
"I think maybe what I'd wish for my children is to find something that they really love to do like I have, but I think I have taken it to an extreme, too. You know, I hope they don't take things as far as I've taken them. I want them to experience great success in whatever they do, but there's a torment about me that I don't wish upon them."
#2 Chris Hemsworth
Source: chrishemsworth
By simply showing up and appearing to be Chris Hemsworth, it would be simple to assume that he would win every competition at his children's school field day. Although he had previously told his children that winning wasn't the most important thing, he admitted that he had allowed his competitive nature to take over at a dad's race and had taken it way too seriously. He related the tale to GQ:
"It was like something out of a movie. There are about 15 of us, and they're all talking about the guy who's won the past two years so I start to get really nervous. I'm doing secret stretches. Another guy asks me, 'Are you fast?' I say I haven't run in years, but in my head, I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm fast. I'm gonna crush this whole field.' Here I am telling my daughter that winning is not important, but there is no way I'm losing this race."
Ah, yes, the old "do as I say, not as I do" fail!
#3 Will Smith
Source: Getty Images
Will Smith experienced intense sentiments of failure as a father after he included his son Jaden in the family business by having his costar in the film After Earth. Jaden received poor reviews, and the movie was a failure. Will, as he revealed in his autobiography, "After Earth was an abysmal box office and critical failure. And what was worse was that Jaden took the hit. Fans and the press were absolutely vicious; they said and printed things about Jaden that I refuse to repeat. Jaden had faithfully done everything that I'd instructed him to do, and I had coached him into the worst public mauling he'd ever experienced."
#4 President Obama
Source: BuzzFeed
Barack Obama was one of the most influential people in the world while he served as president. To the dismay of his daughters Sasha and Malia, he was still a dad and had a bad habit of telling bad dad jokes. In Pittsburgh in 2016, he even had to reassure a crowd that he had successfully broken his habit. "Don't worry. I don't have any more bad jokes. These are so corny, I know," he informed them.
#5 Dax Shepard
Source: daxshepard
Even though Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell may not be hesitant to divulge excessive details about their lives, Dax still feels extremely uncomfortable when his girls witness their parents engaging in inappropriate behavior. Being forced to justify "why we're taking, like, a nap in the afternoon while [the kids] were loose." was his parenting fail. He claimed that when they turned on the TV in the living room and "full coitus interruptus" only for the kids to walk in and catch them in the act, it was "stole away for a minute, an afternoon delight,"
#6 Ashton Kutcher
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We applaud Ashton Kutcher for making an effort to make his daughter a special breakfast, but as he noted on Instagram, this probably qualifies as a pancake failure: "Tried to make a pancake-like Skye from #pawpatrol. What is this supposed to be? asked my daughter. "At least it looks like a dog," you say.
#7 Anderson Cooper
Source: andersoncooper
Anderson Cooper wished he had been misled after his dad fail! In 2021, he told Stephen Colbert the tale. "I was going to Israel last week. It was my first work trip for 60 Minutes, and I was doing an interview, and I get this text from Wyatt's other dad, Benjamin. He said, 'He just walked!!'" Anderson said that he wished Benjamin would have lied to him about it, explaining, "In my household, when I grew up, you would lie about everything. He should have just lied. He should have lied and said, 'Oh no, he's not walking at all.' So when I got home, and he walked, we'd all be like, 'Oh my god! It's the first walk!'"
#8 David Beckham
Source: davidbeckham
Any parent of several children understands how simple it is to refer to their children incorrectly, but it's a bit of a dad fail when David Beckham does it in front of his 74 million Instagram followers! David shared a photo of himself in 2020 with his sons Brooklyn and Cruz, but Romeo was the one who was tagged, not Cruz. After some amusing teasing from fans in the comments section, the error was corrected.
#9 Ryan Reynolds
Source: Instagram
It's simple to make mistakes when you're a new dad. As a well-known new father, Ryan Reynolds experienced this when photos of his blunders appeared online. Ryan later admitted his mistake in a Today interview after a picture of him strapping his infant daughter incorrectly went viral on social media. "The baby's not properly secured in the vessel that I'm wearing there. I'm a first-time dad, and that is not the first mistake I've made. I can guarantee you it won't be last," he said.
#10 James Van Der Beek
Source: vanderjames
Sometimes parents fail when they can't quite control their laughter long enough to chastise their gorgeous child after she drops multiple f-bombs. James Van Der Beek, a father of six, at least experienced this.
#11 Mark Wahlberg
Source: markwahlberg
Mark Wahlberg, a father of four, is an authority on the dangers of wearing socks up wooden stairs. He has admitted that he was carrying his son, who was two years old at the time when he slipped on the steps and fell. However, his fatherly instincts took over, and he took the majority of the fall on his own back and neck. Ouch!
#12 Will Ferrell
Source: REX/Shutterstock
When a dad fails, it may seem like a major failure at the time, but when it becomes a narrative, it may appear like a tiny failure. When Will Ferrell, an actor, made a mistake and took his son to the wrong soccer field, the child missed the entire practice and was "pretty wrecked." according to Will.
#13 Neil Patrick Harris
Source: nph
A Series of Unfortunate Events star Neil Patrick Harris once startled his children by making a video chat with them while still in character as the spooky Count Olaf. He said that his twins were not at all amused by it. They did not like the voice, he added, "They did not mind the prosthetics; they did not like the voice," he said. "When I FaceTimed them, 'Hello, children,' they would freak out, so I don't recommend it."
#14 Chris Pratt
Source: The Graham Norton Show
Chris Pratt's children are allowed to curse, but only when they are out fishing. His hilarious dad's fail involves a floppy fish and some really NSFW language during a fishing trip with his then-5-year-old son. We can confidently state that we have never heard a bass called THAT before when Chris retold the tale on The Graham Norton Show.
#15 Dwyane Wade
Source: dwyanewade
Although Dwyane Wade has served as a fantastic example of how to openly embrace a child who identifies as LGBTQ, even he acknowledges that he had to learn how to avoid failing as a father by accepting the possibility that his child might not be cisgender or straight. He admitted that he felt defeated when he "had to look myself in the mirror and say, 'What if your son comes home and tells you he's gay? What are you going to do? How are you going to be?'"