Kevin Hart reveals how string of scandals affected his children on Red Table Talk with Will Smith

‘My daughter was so upset because she couldn’t process how people could think this about her father’ says Hart

Kevin Hart has disclosed how scandals about his extra-marital affair, an extortion attempt, and the controversy surrounding past homophobic comments that led to him stepping down as Oscars host, have affected his kids.

In the Father’s Day special episode of Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Facebook series Red Table Talk, the 41-year-old comedian told Will Smith about how he addressed the scandals with his children.

“My talk with [my daughter] Heaven... that was one like no other,” he said. “Getting my daughter back, getting my daughter to understand that I was sorry, that I made a mistake; that was real... Until this day, my daughter is tough on me.”

During the time when news of homophobic tweets broke out, and the public had “misconceptions” about Hart, he revealed that his daughter was very upset.

“My daughter was so upset because she couldn’t process how people could think this about her father. And it was so tough because this was when I started to realize how my fame has an impact on my household,” he said.

Smith responded back by saying how he and his wife have been “really open” with their kids. “We’ve found that, with our kids, we just tell them everything,” the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor says. “We just try to get out ahead of it so the kids know before the world knows. We’ve had a couple get to the kids before we had a chance, and that’s excruciating.”

Hart replied by explaining how he has never been able to “get to the kids first”.

“Every child has the internet. There’s nothing that you’re gonna come across, that you’re gonna read, that isn’t gonna have an impression [on them],” he said.

In 2017, the Fatherhood actor walked out on his wife Enniko Parrish with model Montia Sabbag in Las Vegas while Parrish was pregnant.

According to reports, Hart and Sabbag’s tryst was taped and made public after an extortion attempt by a third party.

Later the model filed a suit against the comedian claiming she was filmed having consensual intercourse with him in a hotel room without her knowledge, and that Hart had conspired with former friend Jonathan Todd Jackson to create and leak the tape for publicity.

The Upside actor told Smith: “You’re never prepared for that side of it. Having a little girl in my life, it’s tough. You don’t realise the impact that your mistakes can truly have. When the kids get involved, it’s a different feeling, it’s a different emotion.”