Jamie Foxx Is The Embarrassing Dad On And Off The Screen--And He Doesn't Care

When you think of embarrassing dads, Jamie Foxx isn’t exactly the first celebrity that comes to mind. Foxx is suave, stylish and most would perceive him on the more desirable side of “cool,” but just because others find you cool doesn’t mean your children will. In fact, it can almost certainly mean that they won’t.

On April 14, Dad Stop Embarrassing Me airs on Netflix where Jamie Foxx stars as an embarrassing father to his teenage daughter. Jamie is father to both Corinne, 27, and Annalise, 11, in real life and apparently has more experience than we would expect in being an embarrassing parent. The show is inspired by Jamie’s relationship with his eldest daughter Corinne Foxx when she was a teen.

Corinne is an executive producer on the show where she says fact inspired fiction. In a joint interview with Jamie, Corinne tells CBS This Morning: Saturday of her father, “He's very charismatic and he's, you know, an entertainer. And that's great when he's an actor. But when he's a dad, that's the last thing a teenage daughter wants her dad to be, which is over-the-top and drawing attention to himself.”

Jamie laughs off his daughter’s description of himself and interjects by only saying, “wait a minute!”

Corinne continues, "You are kinda more over-the-top! And so, we had all these hilarious stories, and we thought, 'Why not make these episodes of a TV show?'”

Jamie and Corinne: an unconventional father-daughter duo

Real life is often stranger than fiction, and for Corinne, growing up as Jamie Foxx’s daughter had its advantages and its drawbacks. For one thing, not everyone has their dates personally intimidated by Snoop Dogg upon their father’s request. "Snoop was actually at my house," Jamie explained. "So she brings the guy by to the crib and I said, 'Yo, Snoop, there he is right there. Shake him up.' [He said,] 'Hey, what's up, nephew? You understand what's going on right now?"

Jamie is undoubtedly protective of his daughter, and he admitted that he wanted to make sure the men she dated met his approval.

I'm a private eye. By the time she got the person there, I already knew everything about him.

Jamie Foxx

Of course, his methods stem from a father's natural instinct to protect his child but his love for Corinne also translate to other, more embarrassing actions. For another example, not everyone has their family squad show up wearing your face on t-shirts to your cheerleading event. With experiences like that during her upbringing, it’s no wonder this Foxx daughter-duo found inspiration from their lived reality.

Of Corinne’s cheerleading squad in the stands, Jamie says with a fondness, "now, once she started the cheerleading squad, we started our cheerleading squad for her. So, we would show up at the games with a picture of her on our T-shirts. We wanted to just show her that we love her. And even though it was embarrassing for her at the time, it's what I call 'good embarrassing.'"

It would seem that Jamie’s assessment of his love for his child being “good embarrassing” would be right. When asked what grade Corinne would give Jamie Foxx as a father, she doesn’t hesitate and goes straight with an enthusiastic “A plus!” As to why she gives her multitalented A-lister father such a high grade, Corinne says, “he thinks the world of us, and we can feel it. And that's really powerful for a young girl to grow up and have such a strong father figure in her life.”

Raising a teenage girl is not always easy

Parenting a teenage girl can be a tumultuous time for anyone, but a father and a daughter’s egos can definitely collide during this time period. The daughter is trying to find her footing as she evolves into a woman and a father is trying to understand how he is supposed to continue to protect her in a world where he increasingly cannot. In reality, hilarity ensued between Jamie and Corinne during her teenage years, and it would appear as though the same is true for the Netflix show.

The Oscar winner teamed up with his eldest daughter to bring a glimpse of the fun they had together to viewers worldwide. But it’s not always smooth sailing for a female with a paternal figure.

According to Corinne, “I think that’s the charm of also the show is when you see him you know, wanting to connect to his teenage daughter but, you know, not knowing how to. And I think it’s also super relatable not just because he’s a big famous star, but I think just because he’s a dad.”

Jamie and Corinne’s father-daughter relationship was first put into the spotlight in 2005 when Jamie brought Corinne as his date to the Oscars. Now they are stepping into the limelight again together, with Corinne behind the scenes, to bring their dynamic to streaming devices everywhere.

What we can learn from Jamie and Corinne's special relationship

What is possibly most remarkable about Dad Stop Embarrassing Me is that the inspiration came from seemingly everyday things. Moments in time are precious, and the fact that Jamie and Corinne Foxx wanted to encapsulate their relationship at a specific moment in time speaks to the sincerity of their bond.

While the perception of Jamie Foxx may be challenged through Dad Stop Embarrassing Me, its sounds like his relatability factor may rise. Fathers have tried to communicate effectively with their teenage daughters since the dawn of time. However, it would appear as though from Jamie Foxx’s experience, you can get away with being a corny dad and still get an “A plus” grade from your daughter. The most important thing to remember is to be present, because most of the time, embarrassing or not, being present is what your child needs most.