{"id":2456462,"date":"2026-06-12T15:22:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2456462"},"modified":"2026-06-12T15:22:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:22:59","slug":"tony-hale-shares-how-hes-finally-stopped-being-a-helicopter-dad-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/tony-hale-shares-how-hes-finally-stopped-being-a-helicopter-dad-exclusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Hale Shares How He\u2019s Finally Stopped Being a \u2018Helicopter\u2019 Dad (Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\">NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"mb-4\">\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Tony Hale is getting more comfortable with letting go as a dad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The <em>Toy Story 5<\/em> star recently chatted with PEOPLE ahead of the upcoming release of the popular animated film about how he&#8217;s officially let go of his &#8220;helicopter&#8221; dad status<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hale shares his daughter with his wife, Martel Thompson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/tony-hale\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Tony Hale;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Tony Hale&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Tony Hale<\/a> is getting more comfortable with letting go as a dad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The <em>Toy Story 5<\/em> star, 55, recently chatted with PEOPLE about the upcoming release of the popular animated Disney and Pixar film. During the conversation, Hale opened up about how he&#8217;s officially easing up on his &#8220;helicopter&#8221; dad status with his daughter <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tony-hale-calls-taylor-swift-a-good-role-model-for-his-daughter-exclusive-11994656\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Loy Ann;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Loy Ann&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Loy Ann<\/a>, 20. The doting dad shared that on his recent trip to New York, where his daughter is doing a summer internship, he truly saw how much his daughter has grown into a young adult.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It&#8217;s amazing when you just see that flourishing, and &#8230; it makes me leave New York and be like, &#8216;Okay, she&#8217;s going to be okay,&#8217; &#8221; he tells PEOPLE.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-primary p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-primary\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" class=\"flex-none size-4 -scale-x-100 text-primary lg:size-6 [&amp;_path]:fill-current\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M3.1 3.1V11h1.8V6.314l5.392 5.393 1.415-1.414L6.313 4.9H11V3.1zm17.8 17.8V13h-1.8v4.686l-5.393-5.393-1.415 1.414 5.393 5.393H13v1.8z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-primary hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p><i>Tony Hale and his family<br \/>Credit: Rob Greenwald<\/i><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hale, who shares his daughter with <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tony-hale-wife-shun-dont-go-to-bed-angry-rule-exclusive-8660272\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:his wife, Martel Thompson;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;his wife, Martel Thompson&quot;}\" class=\"link \">his wife, Martel Thompson<\/a>, also revealed that\u00a0he used to have an app to track her location while she was in high school. However, he has since deleted the app from his phone since he &#8220;can trust that she&#8217;s going to make good choices.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I used to track her location in high school and just be like, \u2018How fast is she going?\u2019 It was just such a helicopter thing,&#8221; he admits. &#8220;Now I don&#8217;t. I can trust that she&#8217;s going to make good choices, and that she&#8217;s also going to learn from other not-so-great choices.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><strong>Take PEOPLE with you! <\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.magazines.com\/people-magazine.html?utm_source=people.com&amp;utm_medium=owned&amp;utm_campaign=editorialarticlemention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Subscribe to PEOPLE magazine;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Subscribe to PEOPLE magazine&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><strong>Subscribe to PEOPLE magazine<\/strong><\/a><strong> to get the latest details on celebrity news, exclusive royal updates, how-it-happen true crime stories and more \u2014 right to your mailbox.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The actor, who returns as Forky in <em>Toy Story 5<\/em>, in theaters June 19, went on to share more insight into his reasoning for deleting the app.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I took it off my phone. My wife still has it, and she&#8217;ll look, but she can look at it in a really healthy way,&#8221; he says. &#8220;When my daughter&#8217;s at school, she&#8217;s just curious where she is. If my daughter&#8217;s not in her dorm room, I&#8217;m like, &#8216;Oh, well, she&#8217;s being attacked.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I&#8217;m the dad that at 3 in the morning when she was seven, I&#8217;m in the room checking her breathing. You know?&#8221; he continues.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"Tony HaleCredit: Liesa Cole\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/0Ww5waAgWcZtY6DRW.YO5w--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/people_218\/033ff820248ba0de51ebc4dc10f2ee27\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-primary p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-primary\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" class=\"flex-none size-4 -scale-x-100 text-primary lg:size-6 [&amp;_path]:fill-current\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M3.1 3.1V11h1.8V6.314l5.392 5.393 1.415-1.414L6.313 4.9H11V3.1zm17.8 17.8V13h-1.8v4.686l-5.393-5.393-1.415 1.414 5.393 5.393H13v1.8z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-primary hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p><i>Tony Hale<br \/>Credit: Liesa Cole<\/i><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><strong>Sign up for <\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/from-the-editor-newsletter-sign-up-form-11953046\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:From the Editor;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;From the Editor&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><strong>From the Editor<\/strong><\/a><strong>, our free weekly newsletter from PEOPLE&#8217;s Editor-in-Chief, Charlotte Triggs.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The <em>Arrested Development<\/em> star also spoke to PEOPLE last month at the world premiere of Netflix&#8217;s <em>Office Romance<\/em>, where he discussed being an empty nester. During the conversation, Hale joked that he&#8217;s been taking on new roles to &#8220;stop crying&#8221; about his daughter being out of the house.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Speaking about the &#8220;new phase&#8221; he&#8217;s entered, he described it as a &#8220;little bit of an identity shift.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It is wild because we just moved, actually, to Birmingham, Alabama \u2014 my wife and I \u2014 to be closer to family. I don&#8217;t know how to say it. It&#8217;s a little bit of an identity shift,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;m always a dad, but you&#8217;re very reminded you&#8217;re a dad when she&#8217;s around, and then when she does her own thing and she moves away, you&#8217;re like, &#8216;Okay, wow.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Every time she&#8217;s leaving the house and not like, &#8216;Be careful, drive safely,&#8217; I have to let her go,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It&#8217;s a new phase.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read the original article on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tony-hale-finally-stopped-being-a-helicopter-dad-exclusive-11996606\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:People;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;People&quot;}\" class=\"link \">People<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEED TO KNOW Tony Hale is getting more comfortable with letting go as a dad The Toy Story 5 star recently chatted with PEOPLE ahead of the upcoming release of the popular animated film about how he&#8217;s officially let go of his &#8220;helicopter&#8221; dad status Hale shares his daughter with his wife, Martel Thompson Tony [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2456463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[482813,319379],"class_list":["post-2456462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-martel-thompson","tag-tony-hale"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Tony-Hale-Shares-How-Hes-Finally-Stopped-Being-a-\u2018Helicopter.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2456464,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456462\/revisions\/2456464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2456463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}