Celebrity Celebrity Family Celebrity Parenting Eddie Murphy Loves Being a Dad of 10: 'I Don't Have One Bad Seed' "My kids are so great, normal people — and nobody is like the Hollywood jerk kid," the actor said of his children By Georgia Slater Georgia Slater Georgia Slater is a staff editor on the Parents team at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2018. Her work has previously appeared in USA Today and Washington Life Magazine. People Editorial Guidelines Published on March 16, 2021 11:16AM EDT Photo: Willie Toledo Eddie Murphy is opening up about his favorite role that he's ever played: dad. As the father to 10 children, the Coming 2 America star explained in a recent appearance on Marc Maron's WTF podcast that his kids always come before his career, calling them "center of everything." "I am going to be 60 in April and I have all these babies," the actor said. "I love fatherhood." "The whole idea of being out there and doing three movies a year, that s— is over ... I found over and over again and along the way I realized that if you put your children first you never make a bad decision," the comedian added. Father of 10 Eddie Murphy Says There's 'No Higher Blessing' Than Being a Parent and Grandparent "When you hit a crossroads moment or you have got some s—, you think, 'Well, what is best for my children?' If you go that route then you never make a bad decision," he continued. Murphy, who currently stars alongside his 19-year-old daughter Bella Murphy in Coming 2 America, went on to praise his children, who range in age from 2 to 31. "I am so blessed with my kids," he said. "I don't have one bad seed. I don't have any like 'Oh you are the one.' I don't have any of that. My kids are so great, normal people — and nobody is like the Hollywood jerk kid." "My kids are smart and are trying to do stuff. I am blessed with my kids. I really, really got lucky," he gushed. Murphy and his fiancée Paige Butcher welcomed son Max, their second child together, in November 2018. They are also parents to daughter Izzy, 4. Murphy's oldest son Eric, with Paulette McNeely, is 31. He's also dad to son Christian, 30, with Tamara Hood, and daughter Angel, 13, with Spice Girl Mel B. The comedian's five other children — daughters Bella, Zola, 21, Shayne, 26, and Bria, 31, plus 28-year-old son Myles — are with ex-wife Nicole Mitchell Murphy. He also shared that Myles welcomed a daughter; named Evie Isla, in July 2019. Eddie Murphy Once Surprised His Daughters with an At-Home Visit from Leonardo DiCaprio In January 2020, Murphy sat for an in-depth interview with Vanity Fair where he echoed similar sentiments about the importance of family. "My career, or what I am as an artist, that's not at the center of my life. At the center of my life is my family and my kids," Murphy said. "That's the principal relationship, and everything comes after that. I have 10 kids, and I'm present, and I'm part of their lives. You got to have some kind of balance with career and personal life." Want to get the biggest stories from PEOPLE every weekday? Subscribe to our new podcast, PEOPLE Every Day, to get the essential celebrity, entertainment and human interest news stories Monday through Friday. The actor also reflected on his decades-long career, recalling, "I started making movies when I was 20, and I auditioned for SNL when I was 18, so that's 40 years ago. So I had a little crossroads where it was like, 'It's time to back off, and sit on the couch and just be Dad.' " "Now, I just want to do stuff where there's an emotional hook, and it's something that I'm really into, and not just doing it because, you know, somebody flashed a big dollar sign in front of you," Murphy explained.