Sterling K. Brown may be an award-winning actor, but his most important role to date is being a dad.
The Paradise star opened up about parenting his older son Andrew, now 13, while exclusively chatting with Parade for his Feb. 16 cover story, online now.
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“Teenage boys, I don’t know if they’re different than [teenage] girls. I have nothing to compare it to except for This Is Us,” Brown, 48, began. “But I say this. He has a tendency to [be] very close to the vest, my oldest son. So I want to give him his privacy and his autonomy, but I need to let him know that like, your dad cares about every facet of your life, so if and when you want to share with me, you can share whatever you want with your boy.”
Brown went on to explain why he doesn’t have anything too challenging to share about raising a teenager, telling Parade that Andrew is a “great student” and an all-around respectful kid.
“I mean, the kid makes straight As. He’s a great athlete. He plays soccer like nobody’s business. And he’s a great friend. The people that he’s close to, he is ride or die,” the American Crime Story alum said. “So I have no real stories to report with regards to raising a teenager other than I just want him to talk to me more.”
Related: Sterling K. Brown Finds Power in ‘Difficult Conversations’ — They’ve Led Him to ‘Paradise’ and Beyond (Exclusive)
In addition to Andrew, Brown shares son Amaré with wife Ryan Michelle Bathe. The pair met while attending Stanford University as freshmen in 1998 and eloped in 2006 before tying the knot in a larger ceremony the following year.
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When asked what’s the secret to their decades-long relationship, the three-time Emmy Award winner told Parade that “there are no secrets to longevity.”
“Everybody talks about communication, and communication is important. Learning how to fight fair. Learning how to speak responsively and not reactively to one another in the midst of things,” Brown said. “We’ve grown so much through the years. I mean, and as Ryan would agree, we used to have some fights that were just awful. Absolutely terrible. I’m so happy with the evolution of our relationship and our ability to express ourselves — our needs, our desires, our wants — without offending the other person.”
He added, “We’ve come a long way … I’m very thankful that I have my partner in life to go through everything that I have with her. I love her very much.”
Related: ‘Paradise’: Every Game-Changing Twist in the New Sterling K. Brown Drama
