Jack Whitehall: ‘My daughter has a name for me – but it will have to stop’-Ruth Lawes-Entertainment – Metro

Jack Whitehall welcomed his first child, daughter Elsie, last September (Picture: Jack Whitehall/Instagram; Shutterstock)

Jack Whitehall is preparing himself to have ‘the talk’ with his daughter Elsie. It’s just not the one you think it is.

For the past year, the comedian, 36, has been adjusting to life as a first-time parent after he welcomed the one-year-old with his model partner Roxy Horner, 32, last September.

He will be bracing himself for all the usual milestones – like Elsie’s first day of school and learning to ride a bike – but also has another obstacle to contend with after she started calling him daddy, he told Metro.co.uk.

For those who have not tuned into his blockbuster Netflix show Travels with My Father, Jack also famously calls his own father, former acting agent Michael Whitehall, 84, daddy.

‘I think Elsie is going to call me daddy, which is very sweet,’ the Bad Education actor explained, before adding a caveat. ‘But then I will warn her that there will come a time when she has to stop calling me daddy because it’s cringe.’

Jack admitted he has been trying to police himself when it comes to calling Michael daddy. ‘I’m always trying to be really conscious of it,’ he said. ‘Because whenever I watch the series back, I always cringe, and I’m like, “Oh, I’m 36 now, I should not be calling my father daddy”.

He said Elsie has been calling him daddy – but will warn her when she’s older not to call him it as it’s ‘cringe’ (Picture: Instagram)

Jack is exploring becoming a parent along with partner Roxy in a new Netflix show (Picture: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

‘I’m a grown man, so I try to catch myself wherever I can, but it always slips out at the worst time. It’s definitely something that I’m working on because I’m a father myself now.’

Jack’s foray into parenthood is documented in his latest Netflix show Fatherhood with My Father. The series sees him trying to get to grips with the reality of modern parenting with Michael and a heavy dose of humour.

In one episode, he attends and antenatal class with Michael and is taught how to give a perinall massage on a dummy to help birth. ‘Seeing Jack fumble around with a plastic vagina makes me wonder how he got Roxy pregnant in the first place,’ comments Michael, in one of their trademark quips.

Elsewhere, the father-and-son duo travel to Utah to meet survivalists, test out moon boots, and enjoy a lunch date with a robot, among other jaunts. Jack was even was subjected to the ‘most painful’ experience he’s endured on camera.

Jack attends an antenatal class with his father Michael in the show (Picture: Courtesy of Netflix)

Jack said he was ‘really conscious’ of calling his father daddy (Picture: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)

Jack is seen squirming in agony as he’s strapped to a Tens machine which replicates the feeling of contractions. Michael is given the controls and does not hold back.

‘It was genuinely very, very painful,’ he recalled. ‘There was no acting required with that. It was genuinely one of the most painful things I’ve ever done on camera.’

He is also kitted out with a fake baby bump – known as an empathy belly -which he said helped him see how ‘hard’ it was for Roxy during her ‘tough’ pregnancy. She was diagnosed with symphis pubis dysfunction, also known as pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain, in her third trimester.

The experience has even inspired Jack to concoct a little ’empathy’ device of his own.

Jack tests out an empathy belly in Fatherhood with My Father (Picture: Courtesy of Netflix)

‘I’m building an empathy shoe for me to wear so I can empathise with what it’s like for Michael to have gout,’ he quipped with a mischievous glint in his eye, showcasing the winning formula that makes him and his father such an entertaining on-screen pair.

‘I make all these jokes about Michael having gout and so I think if I have to spend a day in your shoes then it would be literal empathy.

‘I’ll put spikes in it and little bits of gravel and it will be called the empathy shoe and it will help people that live with gout sufferers.’

Michael, who also joined the interview in Netflix’s London HQ, wanted to set the record straight. ‘You are a pathological liar. I have never, ever had gout,’ he roared.

Jack said he was in excruciating pain when he tried the Tens machine (Picture: Courtesy of Netflix)

Their witty to-and-fro has often led to speculation it’s staged for TV. I can assure you it’s not.

When asked about Michael’s parenting, Jack replied: ‘I remember him being a very vocal presence on the touchline whenever I was playing sport at school.

‘I think he ended up incurring a touchline ban for making abusive comments to other children from visiting schools and got into an altercation with a referee once.

‘I think there was a Welsh school and possibly some sheep noises that Michael had been making…’

Jack said he empathised with Roxy’s ‘tough’ pregnancy (Picture: Courtesy of Netflix)

Of course, Michael isn’t going to let him have this: ‘They were a school of thugs. I sent them to very expensive schools, which were entirely run by and attended by posh people.’

As for being a grandfather, Michael has been doting on Elsie and spoiling her with gifts. But not all of them have been wanted.

‘When I had Elsie,all of a sudden my mum went, “Oh, I’ve got some clothes I can give you that were yours and then were Winston’s and now you can have them for Elsie.”

Winston, for the uninitiated, is a doll Michael adopts from Thailand in Travel with My Father. In Michael’s eyes, he is a more well-behaved and quiet Jack.

Looking mildly revolted, Jack continued: ‘Getting hand-me-downs from the weird, creepy doll that we got given in Thailand was a bit weird.’ That might be another topic of conversation with Elsie for later…

Jack Whitehall: Fatherhood with My Father premieres on Netflix on Tuesday.

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