TV personality Guy Fieri attends the UFC 290 event at T-Mobile Arena on July 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo / Getty Images
TV personality Guy Fieri attends the UFC 290 event at T-Mobile Arena on July 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo / Getty Images
The Mayor of Flavortown is putting his foot down.
On Wednesday, Food Network’s Guy Fieri revealed that he doesn’t want his teen sons to get a free ride in life just because of their last name, according to the New York Post.
“I’ve told them the same thing my dad told me. My dad says, ‘When I die, you can expect that I’m going to die broke, and you’re going to be paying for the funeral’,” Fieri, 55, shared with Fox News.
“And I told my boys, ‘None of this that we’ve been … that I’ve been building are you going to get unless you come and take it from me.’ "
The Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives star – who is said to be worth roughly $75 million – revealed to the publication that by the time his kids finish school, he hopes they will have multiple degrees and be living self-sufficiently.
“My youngest son, Ryder, is a senior in high school getting ready to graduate, or you know, going to graduate in the spring,” Fieri shared. “And he’s like, ‘Dad this is so unfair. I haven’t even gone to college yet, and you’re already pushing that I’ve got to get an MBA? Can I just get through college?’”
Fieri revealed to Fox that his rules were inspired by that of former basketball player Shaquille O’Neal.
“Shaq said it best,” the Guy’s Big Bite alum said. “Shaq said it about his kids one time. He says, ‘If you want any of this cheese, you’ve got to give me two degrees.’ Well, my two degrees mean, you know, postgraduate. So they’re on their way.”
Fieri’s eldest kid Hunter, who recently got engaged to pro pickleball player Tara Bernstein, is currently getting a master’s degree while also working for his foodie father.
“I think the kid’s going to explode,” Fieri said of his 27-year-old son.
The Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives star is reportedly worth around $70 million. Photo / AP
Along with his own kids, Fieri and his wife, Lori, acquired guardianship of their nephew Jules Fieri after his mum died in 2011.
Currently, Fieri’s nephew is pursuing a music career while also studying law in Southern California.
This isn’t the first time the TV personality has gotten candid about his hopes for his sons to be self-sufficient.
Fieri revealed last year that he had a very strict rule when it came to his sons’ first cars. Each child has to drive an older vehicle for one year and ensure they don’t get a fine or into an accident before being allowed to get a newer model.
Guy Fieri, from left, Ryder Fieri, Hunter Fieri and Lori Fieri pose atop a star following a ceremony honouring Guy Fieri with a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Wednesday, May 22, 2019, in Los Angeles. Photo / AP
“It’s a rite of passage,” Fieri added.
“Show me that you can spend a year driving the car, not getting any dents, not getting any wrecks, not getting any tickets.
“Prove that you’ve got it all together. Then you can take your own money out of the bank and go buy a car,” he shared.
Fieri said his rules were not a form of punishment. Rather, he wants his sons to be able to look after their cars.
“You know what Ryder drove to school [when] he got his licence? He got my parents’ old, used 259,000-mile Chrysler mini-van,” he shared. “I’m not buying Ryder a car, and I refuse to let him buy a car until he spends one year with no tickets, no accidents, driving the mini-van.”
Hunter, whose first car was his grandfather’s 1996 truck with “no working windows”, praised his dad’s commitment to raising his children.
“He’s a great teacher and a great father and leads by example,” the eldest son shared. “He does the right things to train you for the real world. And teaches you discipline and hard work and to not give up, and that not everyone’s going to hold your hand through life.”
