Eddie Murphy, 64, on Fatherhood: His 10 Kids Are ‘Everything’ After ‘Selfish’ Years and Paternity Battle with Mel B in New Netflix Doc

Eddie Murphy has revealed how his ten children are the ‘centre of his everything’ while opening up about fatherhood in new Netflix documentary Being Eddie. 

The comedian, 64, said before becoming a parent he ‘only thought of himself’ and would sometimes stay awake for days, but has now turned his life around.

Eddie was previously engulfed in vicious paternity battle with ex Mel B, 50, over their trans son Angel, 18, after he denied he was the father leading to years of estrangement, before finally reconnecting.

In his new documentary Eddie said: ‘My kids are the centre of everything, before kids its just about you, once you have kids its all about them’. 

‘I used to stay up two days sometimes before going to bed, when I met [second wife Paige Butcher] I got more on her schedule and now we watch two episode of Seinfeld and go to bed’.

The Nutty Professor star is also father to Eric, 35, with ex Paulette McNeely; Bria, 35, Myles, 32, Shayne, 30, Zola, 25, and Bella, 23, with ex-wife Nicole Murphy; Christian, 34, with ex Tamara Hood; as well as nine-year-old Izzy, nine, and six-year-old Max, with second wife Paige. 

Eddie Murphy, 64, has revealed how his ten children are the ‘centre of his everything’ while opening up about fatherhood in new Netflix documentary Being Eddie

Eddie was previously engulfed in vicious paternity battle with ex Mel B , 50, over their trans son Angel, 18, after he denied he was their father leading to years of estrangement (pictured 2006)

The 18-year-old, who the Spice Girl confirmed had a girlfriend, started life in the glare of the public spotlight after his famous father, 64, denied paternity  (Mel and Angel pictured) 

It was revealed earlier this year that the actor and Spice Girl’s once contentious relationship ‘flourished’ co-parenting their child, who is now living as a trans man.

Mel, 50, told US Weekly: ‘[Angel and Eddie] spend time together, they go on holiday together. He has ten kids he’s a proper father’. 

‘I think being in the kind of [situation] that I was in, it was hard for me to step out and have that relationship [with Eddie] flourish,’ referring to her ‘abusive’ marriage to ex-husband Stephen Belafonte. Allegations he denies’. 

Scary Spice, who wed Rory McPhee in July, said she’d learned to to co-parent with the Shrek star ‘bit by bit’ and admitted their friendship has ‘flourished even more’ as their son has grown up. 

Gushing about Angel, Mel told the publication: ‘He went to Japan last year with his girlfriend and just embraced the whole Japanese vibe, he speaks fluent Japanese and he knows exactly what he wants to do and where he wants to go’. 

Mel and Eddie first met at a party at his Beverly Hills mansion in 2006 and according to the Wannabe hitmaker he had planned a ‘massive dinner party’ to meet her. When the pair first locked eyes on each other across the room, Mel said she ‘freaked out’ because he gazed at her with such familiarity she could ‘see my soulmate’.

The couple went on to shock fans with their unlikely coupling, which appeared to end as quickly as it started before the singer, who was already mum to daughter Phoenix, now 26, with ex Jimmy Gulzar, announced she was pregnant. 

Mel said things turned sour after she fell pregnant and she fled to Leeds in the hope Eddie would follow her to win her back. However he told a journalist in a TV interview he questioned if he was the father would need a paternity test.

n his new documentary Eddie said: ‘My kids are the centre of everything, before kids its just about you, once you have kids its all about them’ (Murphy family pictured) 

‘I used to stay up two days sometimes before going to bed, when I met [second wife Paige Butcher] I got more on her schedule and now we watch two episode of Seinfeld and go to bed’

It was revealed earlier this year that the actor and Spice Girl’s once contentious relationship ‘flourished’ co-parenting their child, who is now living as a trans man  

However during a 2019 appearance on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, Mel said: ‘[Eddie] apologises to this day about that. He wishes he never said it because that baby was planned; we planned that baby together, and we were madly in love, and it just went wrong, dramatically went wrong.’ 

Reflecting on the relationship she told the host: ‘We had something special that I’ve never really truly felt with anybody else. I’ve thought I’ve had it, but they’ve lied. His [Love] was pure. He is the love of my life. He always will be. He showed me what true love feels like, and for that I have the utmost admiration and respect for him.’

Writing in her 2018 memoir Brutally Honest the pop star once again claimed the pair’s relationship lasted for far longer and was more meaningful than had previously been suggested. She also claimed that it was her who forced Murphy to take the DNA test in order for him to acknowledge their child. 

She went on to say that Eddie had a ‘momentous’ effect on her life and that their bond was so close they even had each other’s autographs tattooed on the top of their thighs at a Hollywood tattoo parlour.

During their time together, Mel also wrote how the star would play old Elvis movies and films like Blazing Saddles and also speak about his childhood in projects in New York, where he and his older brother Charlie were partly brought up in foster care at a time when their mother was ill.

‘He was fascinating to me. He’d had a life I couldn’t imagine,’ wrote Mel.