Jack Whitehall shares the 'biggest shock' he discovered about parenthood
The comedian says he was unprepared for this one aspect of fatherhood
What did you miss?
During an appearance on The One Show, Jack Whitehall shared the “biggest shock” he encountered about becoming a parent.
Whitehall has Elsie, one, with partner Roxy Horner. Prior to his daughter’s birth in 2023, the stand-up comedian and his father went on their most ambitious journey yet as he prepared to become a parent.
Jack Whitehall: Fatherhood With My Father documents this journey as a limited series on Netflix, as Whitehall and his father, Michael, set out to try and answer some of the biggest questions about parenthood while exploring some innovations in the process.
Discussing the experience with Alex Jones and Roman Kemp, Whitehall outlined his most significant discovery.
What, how, and why?
"I have to say, like that definitely one of the biggest shocks to me, becoming a father, is how hands-on it all is!" Whitehall said.
"Obviously I had him [gestures to Michael] as a dad, and I was very much, led to believe that the position of father was more of a ceremonial role," he said.
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"You turn up like a provincial town mayor or something, sort of there for the grand opening. And you pose to some pictures, and then [you’re] off."
He later put some of these hands-on skills to the test as he planned Elsie’s first birthday party. "It was like a week’s worth of planning. It was like we were preparing for a presidential inauguration," he joked.
What else did Jack Whitehall say?
During his parenthood pilgrimage, Whitehall got more than one type of shock. One sequence in this Netflix documentary involved him getting administered electric shocks.
"To be fair Jack, you did throw yourself into this because you tried to sort of understand what the pain of childbirth would be like," Jones said. "How did you manage this?"
"Michael kicked me in between the legs," Whitehall quipped. "No, I did a TENS machine where they strapped me up [..] and then they put electric shocks and then it allows you to sort of feel some of the pain. It was genuinely very, very painful."
Jack Whitehall: Fatherhood With My Father is arriving on Netflix on 10 September.