Cory Hardrict doesn’t play about fatherhood, and it shows. On weekends, the actor told PEOPLE that he does 30 things a day with his kids Cairo, 6, and Cree, 13.
“Yes, it is my weekend, and when it’s daddy’s weekend, we have a ball,” he told the PEOPLE at the 7th Annual Black Love Summit in Los Angeles where he was a guest speaker on a fatherhood panel. “We do like 30 things a day and it’s very exciting.”
The All American actor has two children with his ex-wife and Sister Sister alum Tia Mowry.
“So just for them to be here and me doing my daughter’s hair this morning, her nanny did her hair here, but all the dead ends around the edges fell off and they was all — so I had to get some grease I seen in the house and we was good to go. I slicked that thing down and we here.”
Hardrict continued, “That’s the beauty of being a father, of not knowing, but trying to figure it out, make it work. You’re going to make anything work for your kids. So this was great that my son and my daughter were able to see me here.”
The actor also explained that he’s always aspired to fatherhood.
“I always wanted to uplift and inspire someone coming after me, and someone I could look out for and show them that all things are possible in this world.”
He concluded, “The idea of just having children was a beautiful thing to me, and it still is. And I try to instill great qualities and integrity and morals into my children that they can carry on for a lifetime … They’re my world. They mean everything to me and they’re the reason why I live.”
Cory and Tia were together for 14 years before she filed for divorce in 2022. The former couple finalized their divorce in 2023. That same year, the actor shared how difficult the divorce from Mowry was for him while at the American Black Film Festival.
“It’s tough when it feels like you’re going through something alone and no one understands, and no one’s there for you,” discussed in a clip online. He continued, “It was a year and a half crying myself to sleep every night. People who know me, know that my kids and family were everything to me. I’m stronger than I thought I was. By the grace of God, I’m here, and I’m still going.”
