Tom Daley is a stern father.
The 27-year-old Olympian said that Robbie, who is three years old, has already learned that if the diver says no, he can go to his other father, Dustin Lance Black, and get what he wants.
“I’m Pappa, and Lance is Daddy, and when I say no to Robbie, he goes to Lance and says, ‘Daddy, Pappa says no, but may I?'” Tom explained. Lance, on the other hand, answers sure.’
Even while his husband has pointed out that it’s something he likely received from the athlete, Tom stated he gets “freaked out” when he sees his son’s risky behavior.
“He loves to locate objects and leap from them and scare the living daylights out of me,” he said in the current issue of Radio Times magazine. ‘Well, what do you expect?’
Lance responds. You make a living climbing up and jumping off objects’… But it terrifies me. “How did my parents manage with witnessing me do what I do every day and not being terrified?” I reflect.
Tom named his son Rob Daley after his loving father, who died in 2011 at the age of 40, and he aspires to be a “similar” parent to Robbie as his father was to him.
“Robbie is named after my father,” he explained. And I have the impression that I am comparable to how my father was with me. My parents were always there for me, whether I was doing well or poorly. It’s just about being there for Robbie on good days, difficult days, and all the days in between.”
Meanwhile, Tom, who came out in 2015, says that there are no openly gay soccer players in the United Kingdom because they are concerned about the reaction of spectators rather than their teammates.
“It’s an extremely difficult thing to achieve, and it takes that one brave guy to do it first in football,” he remarked.
“I think it’s down to the fans.
“I don’t think the people in the teams will have any particular reaction to it.
“But you’ve seen how the England fans reacted to the Euros with racism and homophobia.
“I think it’s about being brave and being able to share your personal story.”
