Daniel Booko is catching heat from The Valley fans after opening up about why he felt frustrated during the cast trip to San Diego with wife Nia Sanchez Booko and their newborn daughter, Adelaide.
While the couple brought their nanny along to help with the baby, Daniel admitted he did not expect to still be pulled into parenting duties as much as he was, and viewers already have strong opinions about it.
During The Valley After Show, Danny defended his behavior and explained why he felt confused over how much responsibility still fell on him despite the couple bringing their nanny along for help.
“We paid for Lina, who is an absolute angel and very capable of doing everything with the child, except breastfeed,” he reasoned. “There was a little bit of, OK, why am I being asked to do so many things that are easily done and can be easily done by the babysitter who we have out here?”
Danny continued, “I understand that [Adelaide is] gonna be in our room and I’m gonna be getting up every two hours and getting her on the boob and changing diapers and doing all of that. When it’s stuff during the day…”
He then shared an example of Nia getting upset when their daughter smiles at him and he looks away, saying it comes across like he is “ignoring her.”
“It was one of those things that was, you know, a little frustrating of, like, hey, we brought a sitter here so that we can have quality time, be around some friends, and not have the other three kids,” he added. “Obviously, Adelaide is our responsibility, but we do have help, so let’s use it as much as we can.”
Danny also suggested moms and dads naturally process parenting differently.
“I can give the baby to Lina, and my mind turns off about it. … [Nia is] thinking [about] everything that could go wrong. Their minds don’t turn off about it.”
Meanwhile, Nia admitted the tension between them lasted most of the weekend.
“I feel like we had friction most of the weekend in San Diego. … We had good little pockets, but there was just so much friction,” she revealed.
Nia also explained why having help did not suddenly switch off her instincts as a mother.
“Even though I’m trying to have, like, more time with my husband because we have help, I’m still in mom mode constantly,” she elaborated. “You can’t escape it, so I don’t know. I feel like he just had a picture in his head what it would look like, and that just was not the reality. So, there was frustration because we were on different pages.”
Fans are already debating whether Danny was simply trying to enjoy a rare break or if Nia was left carrying the emotional weight of parenting while he checked out.
Either way, this San Diego getaway exposed way more tension than anyone expected.
