Ice-T, 59, has a certain reputation — and boy does he know it! Sitting down with him and his gorgeous wife Coco Austin, 37, HollywoodLife.com learned exactly how he uses that badass image of his to his advantage when it comes to his daughters Chanel Marrow, 1, and Letesha Marrow, who’s an adult now. And while Ice admitted that he wouldn’t consider himself overprotective, he definitely knows how to keep his girls safe — aw!
“I’m not an overbearing pops, but I’m definitely protective of anybody that I love,” the Law & Order SVU actor told us EXCLUSIVELY. “My reputation proceeds me. So my daughter — I have an older daughter — she’s never had any problem. It’s kind of like, if you’re a kid and you come from the mob or something, people know not to mess with you.” WHAT a comparison, right? But we totally get it — after all, we can’t think of anyone who’d want to test Ice-T!
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“People say, ‘Oh Ice is your dad? I think that’ll be enough.’ You know?” Ice continued. “I think you don’t want to cross those lines.” But Ice admits that intimidation can only go so far — it’s also about teaching his daughter Chanel, and making sure she’s aware of what can happen in the world. “I just try and teach [Chanel] what’s going on out there,” the father-of-three explained.
“I think the problem with kids is, they grow up in these rooms with these balloons and pink elephants, and life isn’t really like that, you know? So I say, hey there’s people out there that really will hurt you. I don’t want them to take their rose-colored glasses off, but as long as she’s aware of that stuff, I think she’ll be okay.” Sounds like super solid parenting advice to us!
Celebrating the permanent return of TGI Fridays Endless Apps — and sampling Fridays new Ultimate Boba Long Island Tea — Coco and Ice also revealed their future aspirations for their baby girl. And while Coco and Ice are involved in the Hollywood scene, they would love for Chanel to go down a different path entirely! “I want her to be a scientist,” Coco said. “I want her to be something I couldn’t have been.”
Ice added, “We can only hope, I mean, she is growing up around us! She’s already a character — she’s already funny! She might be a stand-up comedian.” How sweet is that?
Tell us, HollywoodLifers — are you loving how protective Ice is over his girls?