While Anthony Mackie’s career is reaching dizzying heights, the actor continues to remain grounded in his personal life. The The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star makes sure to stay private on anything regarding his family and is well known for keeping them out of the spotlight, allowing him to avoid some of the trappings of fame. Anthony is so good at it, fans may know his upcoming projects, but they may not know that he reportedly has four children with an ex wife!
Anthony met his ex Sheletta Chapital way back when he was only 7 years old while they were at school together. “So I walk in, and I looked, and I see this little girl with these ratty pigtails and skinny legs, and I was like, ‘Wow!'” Anthony recalled of his first run in with Sheletta on The Queen Latifah Show in 2014. They dated on and off until their secret marriage in 2014, which wasn’t revealed until a year later! The couple got hitched at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic in front of about 150 people.
Although very little is known about Anthony and Sheletta’s brood, due to their private nature, it has been reported that they welcomed four children together before calling it quits in 2017. And despite never mentioning them by name in interviews, Anthony does give fans a peek into their lives here and there.
“The most rewarding part [of fatherhood] is seeing them grow up to be good human beings, really nice kids,” Anthony told Fatherly in July 2020. “I try to impress on my kids that the world is their playground and that they should respect people as human beings until they’re shown otherwise,” he added.
After the arrival of his third child, the actor revealed how a big family has changed his view during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “I recently had my third kid, and it just messed up everything that was my reality. It just changes your entire perspective on the world. Even traveling is an issue now — I’ve got to buy five tickets! I look at my parents — they had six kids. I always wondered why we never took vacations further than Florida or the Gulf Coast — it’s like, “Oh, because they couldn’t afford eight plane tickets, so you just put all the kids in the Lincoln and drive to Florida!”
In a video interview with Vanity Fair, the 42-year-old star recalled the moment his son found out he was Captain America. “It’s an opportunity to spend more time with your kids,” he explained. “It’s been a way for my sons and I to bond over movies.” He went on to say that as a parent, “all you want is the approval of your kids, and to him, nothing or nobody else matters. My son said it was cool, so it’s cool, you know?”
While we may not know much about Anthony’s kids, we can agree with them that their father is definitely “cool”!