Jerry O’Connell says meeting his wife, Rebecca Romijn, changed the direction of his life, turning a self-described “very immature” actor into a husband and father who now considers family his greatest blessing.
“My wife was definitely the biggest turning point in my life,” the 52-year-old actor told Fox News Digital while promoting his new movie, “Summer’s Last Resort,” now streaming on Tubi.
“I can’t believe that my wife is with me, first of all,” O’Connell added. “Thank you, honey, if you’re watching this, thank you for being with me this week.”
O’Connell and Romijn first met in 2004 at the Maxim Hot 100 party and became engaged the following year. They married in July 2007 and are now parents to 17-year-old twin daughters, Charlie and Dolly.
Looking back, O’Connell admits he wasn’t exactly ready for marriage and fatherhood when Romijn entered his life.
“Meeting my wife was one of the biggest turning points of my life. I was very immature,” he said. “And then I met my wife, and my wife wanted to start a family.”
That forced him to think seriously about what he wanted his future to look like.
“I was like, ‘It’s not going to get better than this for me, so I might as well settle down,’” he recalled. “And I’m so glad I did. We have two great kids, and we have a lot of fun.”
Family has remained a priority throughout their nearly two decades of marriage. Romijn previously said that while their daughters were growing up, she and O’Connell made sure at least one parent was always home with them.
“No one else is ever going to raise them besides us,” Romijn said.
Now that their daughters are teenagers, O’Connell says fatherhood is teaching him another lesson: how to let go.
He recalled pushing back when one daughter wanted to quit volleyball before realizing he needed to give her room to make her own decisions.
“I have to trust my kids — they’re pretty good kids,” he said. “I just sort of let them find their own way. … I have to trust them. I have to stop telling them what to do. That’s something that they taught me. Stop trying to control situations.”
His experiences raising teenage daughters also found their way into “Summer’s Last Resort.” O’Connell plays Glenn Winters, a free-spirited vice principal who begins dating a single mother while her skeptical teenage daughter tries to sabotage their relationship.
O’Connell joked that his daughters provided plenty of inspiration for playing an embarrassing father figure.
“They are eternally embarrassed by me,” he said. “They can’t stand my presence. Everything I say is the wrong thing to say.”
When filming scenes with young co-star Violet McGraw, O’Connell said he would ask himself what he could do that might make his own daughters refuse to speak to him “for weeks at a time” — and then do exactly that.
Nearly two decades after marrying Romijn, O’Connell is still giving his wife credit for helping him become the man and father he is today. What began as an unexpected turning point became the family life he says he is grateful he chose.