There’s a first time for everything! Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow and more celebrity parents have shared stories about teaching their teenagers to drive.
The Big Little Lies alum, for example, told Ellen DeGeneres in September 2019 that her son, Deacon, is “a better driver” than she is.
“I get distracted a lot because I see cute dogs, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to pull over!’” the Oscar winner explained at the time. “I will literally pull over and get out of the car if it’s a bulldog. Only a bulldog. I’m very preferential to certain breeds … if it’s being walked by somebody and it’s really cute.”
The Louisiana native went on to ask God to help “all” people on the roads with Deacon behind the wheel.
As for Paltrow, the Goop creator made her and Chris Martin’s daughter, Apple, cry during their first driving lesson.
“I failed as a mother because she went through a red light and I kind of yelled at her and then she started crying,” the Politician star said during a February 2020 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “It was just terrible and I felt so bad. So then I was just like, ‘OK, you know what? I’m just gonna be chill and I’m gonna just pretend.’”
The teenager went on to become an “amazing driver,” the Los Angeles native gushed. Apple drives them to school in the mornings, Paltrow said at the time, calling the experience “crazy” and “so weird.”
Both Apple and her younger brother, Moses, think the Golden Globe winner is “the most embarrassing person,” Paltrow told Rachael Ray in January 2019. “It’s been, like, a couple good years that I’ve been the most embarrassing person. If I do anything silly in public, the color drains from [Apple’s] face. Any silly jokes, or if I dance, like in a store, God forbid. She’s like, ‘Mom!’ and I’m like, ‘OK, sorry, got it.’”
Keep scrolling for more celebrity parents experiences driving with their little ones, from Mark Wahlberg to Brandi Glanville.