Whenever a person makes the decision to involve their children on a television show, particularly reality, people are going to have opinions, positive and negative. Denise Richards faced lots of criticism for showing her daughters on her reality show, Denise Richards: It’s Complicated, on E!. Jason Mesnick, of The Bachelor, is the latest to face tough questions about involving his young 3-year-old son Tyler on the show. Ty was shown very briefly during last season of The Bachelorette when Mesnick took DeAnna Pappas home for a visit. Now, single and ready to find love again, Mesnick is stepping into the role of The Bachelor but the woman he chooses in the end will have to love him and his son, too. In his conference call this week, Jason opened up about many aspects of his life. Read on to hear how he answered questions about Ty’s involvement on the show and the dynamics of his relationship with his son and with the women on The Bachelor.
Access Hollywood: I’m wondering if you could maybe lead us through how you made the decision to become The Bachelor. You know, after you said you fell in love with DeAnna so you had to have had some recovery time from that, and how your family reacted to it as well being such a tight knit group.
Jason Mesnick: I made the decision – and, you know, it was an easy decision because first of all it was the same kind of questions that went through my mind the first time going on The Bachelorette was, you know, how would this impact Tyler and that was my first question. And I talked to, you know, a therapist and I talked to his pediatrician and they said, “Listen, he’s going to be fine. I think that you’re probably going to be more impacted by the fact that you’re not going to see him as much as you typically do more than he himself.” And I just said, “You know what?” I said, “I’m not going to go more than a week or so without seeing him.” I mean, I just can’t do that. And the show was great. They said, “You know what? Whatever you need. He’s the most important thing in your life and we’ll work with you on it.” And they did without a problem. He was around when he needed to be and he went home and saw his mom when he needed to and my family was supportive. I know that the one thing that they probably would say is they just don’t want to see me hurt again.
Syndicated: How important is it for Ty to have a mother and a father both at home?
Jason Mesnick: I don’t know, both there. You know, everybody, you know, look at the way the world works now. There’s no guarantee in any relationship, obviously, and I’m living proof from my divorce and from my mom and dad and whatnot. But I think it’s important just to be loved no matter where you’re at. And, you know, I’ve got that love for me from my family and stepparents and real parents and I think Ty has that from me and his mom and his grandparents and my family. So I think it’s the love that’s most important.
Flash News: How do you know if a woman can actually handle your son? Is she going to be able to talk him into going to bed at his regular bedtime or eat his vegetables, those kinds of things?
Jason Mesnick: No, actually I never thought about that because, you know, getting him to bed at his regular time I think that’s something that every parent battles, even their biological parents. But I think it’s just knowing that maybe, you know, everybody’s got different experience with kids and, you know, it could be that they already have a different level of experience with kids. It could be that, you know, they’ve got nieces or nephews and, you know, they want to have kids. It’s not – and it’s something that they’ve actually thought about as well.
RealityTV World: You said when it came to the type of woman you were looking for that you wanted more of a role model, not maybe a parent necessarily. Can you just go into detail about what you were looking for, for your ideal woman on the show?
Jason Mesnick: Yes. I mean when I’m saying – and I know I’ve said that before. And when I say “a parent,” I mean of course I want to have more kids. And with that being said that, you know, I’m going to have more kids and the person that I’ve chosen, her and I will have a family and we’ll have more kids and I – you know, obviously my expectations for that are that we are going to be parents together. But with what I was saying with the person I was looking for is, you know, Ty has already got a mother. And – sorry, speaking of Tyler. Ty, he’s already got a mother. So when I was coming into this I was thinking, you know what, I’m not looking for a mom for Ty. I’m looking for somebody that could be a partner for me, that can be a mentor for him, you know, with more authority. But who has those traits because, you know, I know half of us in this country have step parents. And I think the hardest thing to do is for somebody to walk in and say, “Hey, here’s your stepmom,” or “Here’s your stepdad.” Versus, like, “Hey, here’s Daddy’s – here’s my partner and she’s also, you know, she’s also going to be a friend to you, she’s going to be a mentor to you, she’s going to help you, she’s going to help you learn. But you’re also going to have to listen to her.”
– Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Source: ABC
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
