Patrick Dempsey Just Wants to Make His Wife Swoon

Patrick Dempsey is featured in the new issue of Redbook and talks about selecting family-friendly roles, coping with success at a young age, and keeping his marriage on track.

Some highlights from the interview below:

On having two boys after having had a little girl:
It's such a different game. Sullivan is a little colicky, so that's awful. I can't look at the pain on his face -- it drives me crazy. They're quieter, too. They suffer quietly. When my daughter was colicky, she would scream for hours on end. Boys are just different. You have to reeducate yourself as a parent.

On what he's learned with daughter Talula:
I've learned that the bonding comes in waves; it's incremental. I think most men are freaked out by that because they're expecting it to be immediate. With a mother, it's almost immediate. But it's okay to take the time to bond with your child. It's going to take 12 months before you start to get into this relationship.

On what he learns from being a father:
That's the fun thing. My daughter is really into planets this week. She asked, "What is Mars?" And I said, "Well, let's look up Mars." Kids are amazing. They take you outside your comfort level because you ask yourself, How do I answer that question for them? You think back to your childhood and it's like, I don't want to give them that. I want to give them this. My life is my kids.

On what he wants to experience with the boys:
Sports, skiing, cycling. That's the great thing about my daughter now. She's a great buddy. We go cycling; we can do that. We can have great conversations. I'm a few years out with the boys. I waited to have kids later in life, so my physical prowess is waning, but I've got to stay in shape for them -- so they can't kick my ass at 3 years old.

On his concerns before the arrival of the twins:
My biggest concern is making sure I have enough time to give equally to all three children. And with the schedule I'm keeping right now, that's very hard. I've been spending more time with Talula, because obviously the mother spends the most amount of time with the newborns.

It's interesting having children later in life. We've sort of gone and slayed our dragons, and my wife was adamant about having more kids. But I said, "To do that, someone is going to have to stay home. We're going to have to have help." And she said okay.

On making his wife, Jillian Dempsey, swoon: I hope I still make her swoon! Sometimes I think, God, would Derek Shepard do this? because I am certainly not a perfect male at this moment. Just trying to provide and communicate and let her know how beautiful and important she is to me--I think those things make her swoon.

On returning to romantic comedies:
I don't want to do violent movies right now because I think there's too much violence in the world, and I don't want to add to that. Romantic comedies at this point -- we're at war, we're in a horrible place worldwide, and I want to do something that is going to help people escape. Enchanted is something I did for my daughter. I wanted to do something that kids can go see, and is fun for adults as well. My daughter went to the set, and to this day she says, "When is the princess coming back?" because there's a big ballroom scene in the movie, and she spent hours watching her father work and be surrounded by princes and princesses. What a great gift to be able to give her that.

On his first shot at stardom:
Mentally, I never really wanted success until I was in my 30s. Quite honestly, I think I sabotaged myself in my 20s because I felt I was too young and didn't realize what was happening. But there was a time when I didn't think it was going to work out. Like, Wow, maybe that was the best period in my life.

On his parenting goals:
I don't like the notion of turning on the TV and walking away and not being present. I'm not perfect—some days you have do that. Or you have a project. My wife is very good about the art projects and things like that to keep Talula entertained. But now, with the boys it's going to be different. I don't know how to do a three-on-two.

Source: Redbook