Actor Ashton Kutcher is facing criticism after admitting on the Throwbacks podcast that he and his wife Mila Kunis raise their two children differently, based on gender stereotypes he says come from “toxic masculinity.”
In a conversation with hosts Matt Leinart and Jerry Ferrara, Kutcher talked about how he raises his 9-year-old daughter, Wyatt, and 7-year-old son, Dimitri.
Kutcher said, “My son, I’m always like, ‘Yeah, let’s go for it.'”
“Yesterday, we were popping wheelies on a bicycle in the driveway. Or, it’s like, ‘See if you can jump down four stairs.'”
He confessed: “[With] my daughter, I just want to protect her. When my son cries, I’m like, ‘What did we learn? Let’s move on.’ But when my daughter cries, my heart is out of my body, and I can’t put it back in.”
Kutcher admitted that his reactions come from his own experiences with “toxic masculinity” and shared that Kunis also uses different parenting methods.
“She’s very strict on our daughter and a gush ball with our son,” he said. “I think we balance each other in that way.”
While some people appreciated Kutcher’s honesty, others criticized his comments for supporting old-fashioned gender roles.
