Kevin Hart believes he's less "strict" with his children than his late mother, Nancy Hart was with him.
The actor and comedian discussed his parenting style on the Wednesday (January 7) episode of Serena and Venus Williams' podcast Stockton Street, while also reflecting on how he was raised. Hart shares a daughter, Heaven Leigh, 20, and a son, Hendrix, 18, with his ex-wife, comedian Torrei Hart, and a son, Kenzo Kash, 8, and a daughter, Kaori Mai, 5, with his second and current wife, Eniko Hart.
Around the nine-minute mark of the video below, Hart shared that his mother died before he reached "success." Nancy Hart, who was also mother to Kevin's older brother, Robert, died in 2007 after a battle with cancer.
"So my mom never got to witness the fruits of my labor, my hard work paying off, but she was there in the early stages as a supporter," Hart explained. "But my mom was very much a strict parent. Now that I'm a parent, I don't follow the same strict dynamic that my mom had, but I am very much assertive in the way I communicate and talk to my kids."
Hart added that in raising his children, he's "seen an amazing result in their actions and their growth."
Earlier in the conversation, Hart said that his late father, Henry Hart, who died in 2022, often wasn't around due to drug addiction. In 2023, the comedian saw his oldest daughter graduate from high school, while this year, his oldest son will be walking with the senior class of 2026. But while Hart isn't a huge disciplinarian, as he told Complex in 2024, he isn't interested in hitting the club with his kids.
"My fear is just looking like the old guy in the club," he said at the time. "I never want people to look up and [and people] go, ‘Why is he here?’ That to me, that's aggressive. ‘Oh God, you see Kevin over there in the corner? Why is he here? It's 21, 22 night. Why did he come?’ Bumping into my kids' friends from school, that's just aggressive. I don't need those problems. I'll take my ass home and be happy."