From friend to father in a jiffy

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Michael J. Fox and Sam at The Golden Globes

What started out as a joke at the Golden Globe awards, clearly snowballed into a much larger issue. During the course of the show, co-host Tina Fey told Taylor Swift to stay away from Michael J. Fox’s son Sam, who was acting as Mr. Golden Globe. Incensed at the very thought of this happening, the over-protective dad Michael, rose to the occasion and publicly asked Taylor to ‘back off’ (hardly surprising, considering the songstress’ history with men).

He also revealed that he “would not be best pleased if his son Sam was to become the country star’s next victim.” It’s not just Fox, President Obama and actor Matt Damon too have revealed that they are insanely protective of their children, especially their daughters.
Back home, celebrity dads are an overprotective lot too, from the looks of it. Theatre personality, Alyque Padamsee reveals that he shares a very close bond with his daughter Shazahn, an actress herself. “I try to be her best friend, but a protective one at that,” he says. He also insists that he gives her the freedom to make her own choices in life, “When we talk about her films, I try and not become judgemental of her choices. When she is down in the dumps, my attitude towards her would be ‘you’ve done your part. I try and help her balance things out.”
Actor Vikram has always been careful to keep his kids out of the limelight, being the overprotective dad that he is. “Cinema and family are two completely different worlds. When you are in the limelight, everyone has the permission to take out their cameras and click pictures of you. However, that doesn’t mean that your family is included automatically in the equation. I want my children to have the freedom that lets my wife travel in an auto and the freedom to let my kids play in the park,” he says.
When asked if he is an overprotective dad, actor Abbas laughs. “When it comes to daughters, yes. There is this sort of generation gap that comes into play. In today’s world, you’re never sure of what kind of people are out there. I do want to protect my kids but not keep them in hiding. In the film fraternity, you experience the highest of highs and lowest of lows. I don’t want my kids to get carried away. I take them to all my shoots but at the same time I want to give them a chance to live normal lives.”
New-age dads have become more proactive and some of them even go to extremes like getting bodyguards for their children. Dr Dheep, counsellor and psychiatrist says, “While recruiting bouncers, parents forget that this is equivalent to having the kid surrounded and not giving them a chance to be free and spontaneous.”