Matt Willis says he didn't cry until the age of 29
Busted star Matt Willis has revealed he didn't shed tears until he was 29 as he'd been taught that 'boys don't cry'.
His own experiences have made him determined to encourage his own children to be open about their emotions.
Willis, 39, is married to TV presenter Emma Willis, and the couple share three children, Isabelle, 13, Ace, 10 and Trixie Grace, six.
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Speaking to the Sweat, Snot & Tears podcast he looked back on his own upbringing and reflected on how he and his wife approach parenting.
"I don’t think you should confuse weakness with vulnerability," he said. "For me I thought there was never ever weakness. I was told boys don’t cry. I didn’t cry until I was 29. And when I did it opened up all the floodgates.
"That was my era, but it didn’t serve me well as a human, as a father, as a husband, an actor. We build this scaffolding around us and it becomes what we are, but actually it’s not who we are. We need to break that scaffolding down and understand what it is to be a man in today’s world."
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Willis and his TV presenter wife have experienced first-hand what it is like to grow up in the public gaze, so do their best to keep their children off social media and out of the spotlight.
The actor and singer says he now knows his teenage thoughts about being a man were wrong.
"I think I had so many backwards 'forced upon me thoughts' about what it was like to be a man," he explained. "And I was so wrong, they could not have been further from who I am. I held on to them for so long and they served me really badly."
He also revealed that he is currently writing a book aimed at teenage boys, which he hopes will inspire others to talk about their ‘mistakes’.
‘I wish I had a book like this when I was growing up,’ he admitted.
