Share and Follow
Sterling K. Brown recently opened up about the unexpected rationale behind sharing photos of his sons, Amaré, 10, and Andrew, 15, on social media.
During a revealing discussion on the February 23 episode of the Armchair Expert podcast, the Paradise actor engaged with host Dax Shepard on the intricacies of parenting in the public spotlight.
Curious about Shepard’s approach, Brown inquired about how Shepard and his wife, Kristen Bell, decided to keep their daughters, Lincoln, 12, and Delta, 11, away from the social media limelight.
“Can you walk me through your thought process concerning their safety, their anonymity, and how you arrived at that decision? I have my own distinct perspective on the matter,” Brown stated.
Shepard revealed that the primary motivation behind not posting his daughters online is to ensure their safety. Interestingly, for Brown, that very concern has led him to adopt a contrasting approach.
Shepard explained that safety is the driving force behind his decision not to post his daughters online. For Brown, however, that same concern has led him to take a different route.
“Your children are obviously White. My children are Black. I feel like the more I put them on social, the safer they are,” he said. “Any proximity that Black boys can have to some sort of celebrity or access or … status [or] leverage. I’m trying to make sure that they make it home.”
While Brown shares images of his sons publicly, he and his wife, Ryan Michelle Bathe, maintain firm boundaries around family time.
“If I am out with Ryan and the boys, we have a policy of no pictures,” Brown shared. “And the policy is because they deserve to have a regular night out. It’s their time. Because Ry and I have a certain amount of spotlight or whatnot, doesn’t mean that they should receive less of us.”
Brown has previously spoken about how much fatherhood means to him. During an August roundtable for the second season of Paradise, he reflected on watching his sons grow.
“I have two people who are just sort of the most important people in my life. Their names are Andrew and Amaré, and they are my sons, and they’re 14 and 9,” he said at the time. “And to anybody who’s been a parent or even has young children to see how much they change, especially when they’re young, as they accrue new skills and learn new words and stuff, it is the most magical thing to be in the presence of.”
“Being a father is the most important job that I have in my life right now,” he continued. “And so for the next nine years if I can keep working in L.A. and be like the one dude who figured it out I would be very, very excited about that, but I don’t want to miss too much of their growing up.”