Tom Daley Opens Up About Fatherhood and Life After Diving
As Tom Daley navigates the challenges of parenthood, the 31-year-old former British diver is finding joy in the everyday moments with his two young boys. In a candid interview with Yahoo Life, Daley shared his thoughts on being a present and emotionally available parent, and how his life has changed since retiring from Olympic diving.
For Daley, being a dad is all about being present and available for his children. "For me, being a dad is all about being present, being there to play, being there to love, being able to be completely emotionally available," he tells Yahoo Life. "To be there to pick your kids back up when they fall, and to encourage and support them and make them feel like they’re invincible and protecting that feeling for as long as possible before the world tells ’em otherwise."
Daley and his husband, Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, are fathers to two boys: Robert "Robbie" Ray, who turns 7 this month, and Phoenix Rose, 2. As they navigate the challenges of parenting, Daley says that it’s a "dance" to balance work and family life. "That guilt as a working parent when you have to travel is a lot," he says. "One of us always has to stay behind, obviously, to be able to be there with the kids, or the kids come with us. … It’s this dance that becomes really quite a challenge."
Unlike his diving career, which was highly structured and required a great deal of routine, Daley says that he has more flexibility now. "That was so structured and
