Ryan Reynolds Says Healing After His Dad’s Death Comes 'Through My Relationship with My Own Kids' (Exclusive)

Reynolds, who is a father of four with his wife Blake Lively, says parenting their children has helped heal a complicated relationship with his late father

In the nine years since his father’s death, Ryan Reynolds has come to a more peaceful place about their fractured relationship.

“I think most men and boys have a slightly complicated relationship with their father, but I also think that the healing for me or the closure around my dad actually really comes more through my relationship with my own kids,” the Deadpool & Wolverine star tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue.

James Chester Reynolds died in 2015 at age 74 after living with Parkinson’s disease for nearly 20 years. In the years after his father’s death, Ryan learned James’ struggle with hallucinations and delusions are two lesser-known symptoms of Parkinson’s. He has since partnered with the educational campaign More to Parkinson’s, which offers resources to patients and caregivers.

The youngest of four, Ryan, 47, is now a dad to his own four children with wife Blake Lively, 36: James, 9, Inez, 7, Betty, 4, and Olin, whom the couple announced they welcomed in Feb. 2023. Becoming a father, Ryan says, has brought a new opportunity to heal some of his past.

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“My dad had incredible integrity. He did not lie. He had this compulsion and moral and ethical compass that was I think very impressive,” says Ryan of his father, who he has described as an often tough and stoic former police officer. “[It] always pushed him to do the right thing at the right time, even though he made a massive amount of mistakes, was not a great communicator, blew it, all kinds of stuff."

He continues: “But I blow it all the time and we all do. It's funny that our parents are meant to have this kind of infallibility. So I do feel like part of that process and journey for me is with my own kids...I get to fill in those little gaps that maybe hurt me with respect to my own father.”

Those opportunities present themselves, he says, in the more tense moments of parenting.

“I get to show up. And even though I may have an instinct when my kid is acting out or telling me I'm the worst — my father's instinct would be to shut that kid off. My dad would retreat into the power of silence, and that is not the way to acknowledge your kid.”

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In those tougher moments, Ryan works to lean into what’s happening in front of him.

“To be able to get down on their level and just tell them that I believe them and that I'm here for them. That they can't go do the thing that they're asking to do — but at the same time, I'm willing to sit here and hear them out and feel whatever they're going through.“

And instead of shutting down, says Ryan, he's able to forge a connection “and let them know…I'm going to stay with you until we can feel a little bit better. I don't know if I can fix it, but I can definitely be with you through this. That kind of stuff, I'm like, ‘Oh, okay. I just weirdly didn't mean to, but I fixed something with my own dad.’”

Ryan now says that learning his father’s decline into hallucinations and conspiratorial webs was connected to Parkinson’s has made him want to speak out so that others can seek resources.

“It really destabilized my relationship with him because I didn’t really know what was happening,” says the star. “I wish I'd known about this. I wish help was available. This is the part that really unwound my family.”

For more from Ryan Reynolds's exclusive PEOPLE interview, pick up this week's issue, on stands Friday.

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Read the original article on People.