Joshua Jackson Details His Biggest Lesson About Fatherhood

Joshua Jackson’s secret to parenting? You just roll with it.

The Dawson’s Creek alum, who shares daughter Janie, 2, with wife Jodie Turner-Smith, reflected on his first few years of parenthood while on the red carpet for the Heroes Gala Benefitting F— Cancer on Oct. 1, exclusively, telling E! News the biggest lesson he has learned since becoming a dad.

“You don’t know anything,” Joshua said. “You just don’t know anything until you get started. You don’t have a choice. You dive right in one way or another.”

The Mighty Ducks actor explained that no amount of preparation can adequately prepare a first-time parent, noting, “It doesn’t matter how many classes or conversations or helpful aunts or parents, you don’t know anything and then you learn everything. The baby teaches you as you go.”

He also shared Janie’s latest obsession: The end call button—which isn’t her dad’s favorite.

“The most recent discovery was the hang up button on FaceTime,” Joshua confessed. “This is less cool for me because now she just tells me, ‘Dada, can’t talk now. I’ll call you when I wake up.’ Click!”

“Yeah, she calls it the bye bye button,” he continued. “Yeah, she knows what she wants. She’s a boss lady.”

Joshua Jackson & Jodie Turner-Smith Welcome First Child

As for whether or not Janie will follow in her parents’ footsteps—the Dr. Death actor says never say never.

“She is a child of two people in show business, but she won’t be on camera for a very long time,” the 44-year-old explained. “She can have a childhood and if she chooses it, she can have it but we would never push her in that direction.”

Cindy Ord/MG22/Getty Images

Joshua also took a moment on the red carpet to gush about his wife’s status as a fashion icon—especially during the Venice FIlm Festival, telling E! News, “I did Venice just as a fan because I was here working so I just woke up every morning and checked the internet and was like, ‘Oh my god! Look at my wife, this is ridiculous!'”

“It is really nice to be able to get dressed up and do that thing together,” he continued. “And she is a very unique person in that she really loves that stuff, like she really is fed by it in a very beautiful way.”

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