Movie star Ryan Reynolds has famously admitted he likes being a girl-dad, sharing three daughters, James, eight, Inez, six and Betty, three, with his actress wife Blake Lively.
The couple recently welcomed their fourth child but are yet to reveal the gender.
Ryan confessed during the pandemic: "I do not miss masculine company at all. Really, most men tend to be the architects of someone’s demise. So, it’s fine. I like just being here with the girls. I like doing the girl stuff."
HELLO! wanted to know what it's really like being the only guy in a house full of girls, so we asked dad-of-three daughters, Olly Huddlestone of dadlifewithriver, to give us his honest account.
Here, Olly reveals the ups and downs of being a girl-dad…
Ryan Reynolds is probably the most well-known girl dad out there and you can tell he absolutely loves it - and I’m just the same. I have three amazing girls, aged River, aged four, Meadow, three and Winter, one.
There is honestly nothing you can do to prepare for being a girl dad.
Growing up I always thought of myself having boys, playing football, going for a pint, and so on, and I think mums probably do the same with 'girl stuff'?
But the fun part about being a girl dad is you’re so unprepared and you never know what’s coming next… Ballet, dolls, dancing and watching Frozen are all things I’ve never even thought of doing before, so I’m always learning along the way.
On top of the traditional 'girly' stuff, we want the girls to know they can do anything they want. I took my three-year-old daughter River to watch the Lionesses win the Euros at Wembley last year and she loved it. What a time for women’s sport!
Being a girl-dad wasn't the plan…
It was never planned to be a girl dad, of course - how can you plan these things?!
My fiancée Jodi and I both said we’d like one of each, a boy and a girl, out of curiosity more than anything. What will a boy look like? What hair will the girls have? That sort of thing.
Now, looking back, I feel like I was destined to be a girl-dad. I’m incredibly lucky and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
The house is very girly, obviously, but I wouldn’t say it’s TOO girly. There are dolls in every corner, pink blankets, and turtles all over the house! Meadow absolutely loves turtles and must have 30 plus turtle teddies. River, my eldest, is definitely the most girly.
I work from home a lot, so to get out of the house I make sure I go to the gym 3-4 times a week - this really helps with productivity and is a good way of clearing your head on a busy day.
Funny girl-dad moments
I'm a massive football fan and go through the same experience every single week.
I wait all day (all week), excited to watch my beloved Boro at 3pm on a Saturday, buying myself a couple of beers and I dream of myself sitting on my sofa watching the game for two hours in peace.
Of course, this never happens. Before the game has even kicked off, I'm being climbed on, up every second to make drinks or get pens out, and then eventually I get told to turn football off and put on Frozen, Peppa Pig, Moana or whatever they're into that day.
I usually end up cramped in a corner, trying to watch the game on a tiny iPad.
Tackling hairstyles…
Jodi doesn’t let me go anywhere near my daughters’ hair.
On the few occasions that I have tried, I have failed miserably. It doesn’t help that they all have different types of hair. River’s is straight, Meadow’s curly, and Winter’s is wavy, so yeah, their hair is a massive struggle for me.
I have seen a few cool and very dad-esque ways of doing girls' hair on TikTok, so I may give those a try in the near future.
The girls ask how come they all have curly, long or straight hair, but I have 'tiny hair.' And 'Why can't we put bows in your hair?" Believe me, I wish I had the ability to put even the smallest of bows in my hair.
Then there's the clothes situation.
Whenever I get them dressed, I get a text from mum saying, 'What on earth have you got on the girls!?' and to be fair, when a four-year-old has on 1-2 year trousers that are creeping up by her knees, her point is valid. Mum is always right!
Broody for more?
A question I get asked all the time is 'Do you wish you had a boy?', or 'Will you have another one and try for a boy?'
The truth is, right now I feel that we’ve been blessed with three amazing daughters (it was three under three at one stage!), so right now my focus is on my career, moving house, getting married and enjoying spending time with my girls while they’re young.
I say I’m loving life as a girl dad now, but come back to me when they’re 13, 14 and 15. Those teenage years are going to be WILD.
On a serious note, I’m just hoping they all get along. Like all siblings, I know there will be fights over silly things, but my hope is that they all grow up to be best friends and have each other’s backs.
We obviously have ups and downs, as all parents and families do, but in terms of having girls, I absolutely love it.
My girls are (most of the time) caring, happy and, most importantly, they all love having sisters close in age - until someone steals someone else’s pen, then all hell breaks loose.
What the girls think
I think Jodi just enjoys watching me being totally outnumbered and bossed around by four girls in the house. As you can imagine, I can never get a word in edgeways and they each have me wrapped around their little fingers already.
She keeps hinting that another boy would be good in the house, but I know what she's up to! Let's see how that goes...
Follow Olly's girl-dad life on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. He also chats about football on YouTube.
