Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka are embracing their dad era. The couple recently shared a glimpse into their family life with their 15-year-old twins, Gideon and Harper, during an interview with E! News at the 2026 Tony Awards. When asked if their children find them cool, Harris promptly replied, “I think so.” Burtka didn’t...
Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka are embracing their dad era.
The couple recently shared a glimpse into their family life with their 15-year-old twins, Gideon and Harper, during an interview with E! News at the 2026 Tony Awards. When asked if their children find them cool, Harris promptly replied, “I think so.”
Burtka didn’t have a different opinion either. He chimed in, “I’m told from [their] other friends that they like us. We’re the cool dads.”
The couple also detailed what fatherhood currently looks like for them. Harris described the twins as “high school teenagers” who are “super fun, super independent.”
Meanwhile, Burtka said, “They really don’t necessarily want you there, but you need to be there if they fall.”
Praising his husband for doing “amazing parenting,” Harris further added, “We both worked really hard to, you know, give them opportunity, and it’s so fun to watch what they do… They’re amazing kids. We love them.”
When asked whether Gideon and Harper plan on following in their famous fathers’ footsteps, Harris and Burtka agreed that they “wouldn’t be surprised.” However, Harris apparently doesn’t want his kids to get into acting without a solid foundation of knowledge and skills.
“I think my single path of starting as an actor young was really unique, so I wouldn’t encourage that necessarily. But I think they’ll probably be actor adjacent. I hope that they… go to college and actually study it and then perform,” Harris noted.
Speaking of who will be in charge of teaching the soon-to-be 16-year-olds to drive, Harris revealed that neither of their children is keen on driving right now.
“They’re New Yorkers, so they take the subway everywhere or Uber,” he explained, adding, “We’re getting into the [self-driving] Waymo car world. So I don’t even know if they’re gonna have to ever touch a steering wheel.”
Burtka, though, might have a different plan. He said, “I think this summer we might get them in the car around the driveway.”
Harris also revealed that the twins have “really, really great senses of humor.”
“They laugh at our jokes sometimes, which feels like a win. It’s probably just more performance on their part. They’ll laugh at our jokes so they can ask to get money for a matcha. But I’ll take it. Any laughs I can get,” Harris joked.
Harris and Burtka started dating in 2004 and welcomed their children via surrogacy in 2010. The duo tied the knot in 2014.
