The One Thing Jesse Williams Wants to Instill in His Kids
Jesse Williams' children keep him grounded. "There's always perspective when you have kids listening and watching and mimicking," he told Parade in an interview.
The Grey's Anatomy alum, 42, is a proud dad to daughter, Sadie, 9, and son, Maceo, 8, whom he shares with ex-wife Aryn Drake-Lee.
Prior to finding fame as an actor, Williams worked as a teacher in a low-income school district and grew up in disenfranchised communities. The celebrity activist's upbringing has "tremendously influenced" how he's raising his young children.
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"You try to make sure to expand on the good and try to reduce things that were scary or negatively influenced you and protect your kids without rendering them unprepared for the realities of their life," Williams tells Parade. "So all of that stuff is informative, and I think all parents can relate to hearing their own parents in their voice as they parent. I definitely find myself surprised at how often I sound like my dad or mom."
While Williams made his Broadway debut last year and has created apps like Homeschooled, not to mention starred in hit shows like Grey's Anatomy and Only Murders in the Building, the dad of two admits that his kids thinking he's cool is a surprisingly "hard bar" to clear.
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However, one thing his little ones are excited about is returning to school, and this back-to-school season, Williams has partnered with Crest and Oral-B to support their #ClosingAmericasSmileGap campaign, which aims to help end oral health disparities.
As a kid, "you want to feel confident," Williams tells Parade. "You want to not be made fun of. As students get older and want to apply for jobs, if you don't feel confident, you have something wrong with your teeth [that] somebody else would have easily been able to fix, that affects your ability to be hired. If you're confident to raise your hand, participate in class to try to draw attention to yourself—all these things are issues that our young people are very well aware of, but don't always have the control to do anything about, so it's nice to have help."
Courtesy of Crest and Oral-B
Growing up himself, Williams describes his bottom teeth as "an absolute mess."
"So I had braces. I had a retainer," he says. "I had one of those crank retainers where you have to like put a key in every night and do one crank to widen your jaw. It was very medieval."
Orthodontia has come a long way since then, which means his kids are unlikely to suffer the same sort of proverbial indignities. But Williams is helping to build their character in other ways, to be sure. If the actor could instill one thing in his children, he says, "it would be that they're curious and proactive in [their] own life."
Don't "subordinate yourself to anybody," he adds, "and ask questions of yourself and others."
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