David Harbour Just Revealed His Emotional Reaction To Meeting Lily Allen’s Kids For The First Time As He Reflected On Becoming A Stepfather After Previously Being “Very Against” Having Children

Before Stranger Things star David Harbour met his now-wife Lily Allen back in 2019, he had committed to a life of being happily child-free.

However, when the two tied the knot in a Las Vegas ceremony in 2020, David officially became stepfather to Lily’s two children with her ex Sam Cooper, Ethel, now 12, and Marnie, who is now 11.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, David said that Ethel once referred to him as “some guy” when she got annoyed that her little sister was calling him “dad” instead of “David.”

“The older one got very upset with that, which I understand, and said: ‘He's not our dad, he's not our dad,’” David explained at the time. “And the younger one was like: ‘Well, what is he? He’s kind of our dad? He's kind of our stepdad?’ and the older one said: ‘He's just some guy in our lives.’”

“I was like, ‘I need to marry this woman because the emotional fallout…’” David added. “It’s like my favorite thing I’ve ever been called.”

Thankfully, Ethel was on board when the time came for David to propose, with the actor revealing that she and Marnie actively encouraged him to pop the question.

And David has now opened up some more about his sweet relationship with his stepdaughters, and revealed his seriously emotional reaction to the first time that they met.

“I remember her saying something to the kids like: ‘This guy might be a big part of our lives,’ and I think Marnie said later on that she thought I was going to be her new assistant, and I kind of am,” David laughed.

“But I do remember meeting the kids, and having breakfast with the kids, and being scared, and then almost immediately falling in love with them, like, in love with them, and feeling that thing that people talk about when they have kids, like: Wow, I want to take care of you beyond myself, I would do anything for you, give you anything,” he poignantly added.

“There was just an immediate sort of love that I had for them that was so unique,” David went on. “Just their innocent little faces looking up at you, just confused. They were like six and seven at the time. That really pushed me over the edge.”

“I was like: Wow, this is something so rare, this is like a family, kind of, a pre-made family,” he continued. “I don't have to have the kids myself, they don't have to carry my name, I can just help these people grow up and give them Starbucks and Taylor Swift merch, give them Zara and Chick-fil-A.”

David previously drew parallels between his personal experience of becoming a father and that of his Stranger Things character, Jim Hopper.