Mark-Paul Gosselaar Says He Sees Himself as a ‘Husband’ and ‘Father’ First Before an ‘Actor’: ‘That’s My Every Day’

 

“My day revolves around making sure my wife is good. Making sure the kids are good, and then I go to work for a little bit and then I come back,” he says

 Hudson Show that he isn’t used to all the fanfare of being a celebrity, as he is often kept busy with his wife Catriona McGinn and four kids.

“I always say this: ‘I’m a husband first, a father second [and an] actor third,’ ” Gosselaar told Jennifer Hudson. “So, my day revolves around making sure my wife is good. Making sure the kids are good, and then I go to work for a little bit and then I come back.”

“But it’s all about kids’ sports and just being dad, you know?” he explained of his daily routine.

The Found actor, who shares son Michael, 20, and daughter Ava, 18, with his ex Lisa Ann Russell, and son Dekker, 11, and daughter Lachlyn, 9, with McGinn, added that while he was “blessed” to be an actor, his family was his main focus.

“I feel so blessed that I have a job, and I get to do what I do because I love what I do,” he said. “But I just see myself as a husband and a father and that’s my day. And [my family] could care less [about] what I do.”

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Gosselaar opened up to PEOPLE in 2019 about the challenges that come with fatherhood — especially having to juggle four kids who were growing at “different stages.”

“It is fun to see the different stages the [kids] are in,” he said, before joking, “We’re busy in all aspects of parenting at the moment, from short-order cooks to Uber drivers, to Postmates drivers, to Amazon delivery drivers. We’re covering all the bases.”

Gosselaar, who gained fame on Saved by the Bell from 1989 to 1992, has since retreated to a more private family life, telling Hudson that he and his family “moved” out of the Los Angeles area “a few years ago.”

WENN Rights Ltd / Alamy

Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Catriona McGinn with their children