Guy Fieri’s Tough-Love Parenting Taught Son ‘Hard Work and Perseverance’

Hunter Fieri and Guy Fieri attend Big Game Kick-Off Event at Academy LA in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 9, 2022. Vivien Killilea/Getty Images

Guy Fieri, host of the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” has never shied away from sharing his tough-love approach to parenting, which includes strict inheritance rules.

Now, his son, Hunter, has given his perspective about his experience being raised by the popular television personality.

While walking the blue carpet at Michael Rubin’s Fanatics Super Bowl Party in Las Vegas on Feb. 10, a Fox News Digital reporter asked the 27-year-old what lessons he has learned from his famous dad. He quickly quipped, “That is a loaded question.

“I mean everything, you know, he’s a great father,” he continued. “But hard work and perseverance and just learn as you go. Just keep working hard, keep your head up.”

Hunter also said he learned “a lot about culinary” from the celebrity chef, adding that he is “super thankful.”

Mr. Fieri interjected, saying he taught his son the basics. “Get your sleep, brush your teeth, eat your vegetables,” he bantered. “How to tie my shoes and put on a shirt right and all that stuff,” his son jokingly added.

Guy Fieri’s Tough Love

In addition to his oldest child, Mr. Fieri, 56, shares a 17-year-old son, Ryder, with his wife, Lori. The couple also raised his 22-year-old nephew, Jules, after the restaurateur’s sister, Morgan, passed away from metastatic melanoma in 2011, per People.

Mr. Fieri has previously discussed his parenting style, which includes teaching his children the value of being self-sufficient instead of expecting handouts.

“I’ve told them the same thing my dad told me,” he told Fox News Digital last December. “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.’

“And I told my boys, none of this that ... I’ve been building are you going to get unless you come and take it from me,” he added.

Instead of gifting his youngest son a brand new vehicle when he obtained his driver’s license, the chef told People in a 2022 interview that Ryder drove his “parents’ old, used 259,000-mile Chrysler minivan.”

“I’m not buying Ryder a car,” he said. “And I refuse to let him buy a car until he spends one year with no tickets, no accidents, driving the minivan.

“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,“ Mr. Fieri continued. ”Then you can take your own money out of the bank and go buy a car.”

The “Mayor of Flavortown” also firmly believes in attaining a higher education, noting that he refused to pass on his fortune unless his children went to college. Earlier this year, he told Entertainment Tonight (ET) that Jules was enrolled in a law program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles while his oldest son was in a master’s program at the University of Miami.

“I told them, if these guys want it, they gotta give me two degrees,” he said. “Two post-grad and then they can go after it.”

Ryder, who is still a senior in high school, isn’t immune to the rule.

“My youngest son [is] getting ready to graduate,” he said. “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?’”

Mr. Fieri gave credit to retired professional basketball player Shaquille “Shaq” O'Neal for his similar approach to parenting.

“Shaq said it best. Shaq said it about his kids one time,” the chef told Fox News Digital. “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.”

Celebrity Parenting

Mr. Fieri isn’t the only celebrity against gifting large inheritances to offspring.

Chef Gordon Ramsay told The Telegraph in 2017 that he didn’t plan on leaving his wealth to his kids either. “My fortune won’t be going to my children in my will,” he said.

The same goes for singer and actress Marie Osmond, who said passing down wealth would “rob [children] of finding who they are” and that “self-worth can’t be bought,” per Fox News.

“That ‘70s Show” stars Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher—who share daughter Wyatt Isabelle and son Dimitri Portwood—have shared similar sentiments. The couple, who reportedly have a combined net worth of $275 million, per the Independent, plan to donate their children’s inheritance to charity instead.

“I’m not setting up a trust for them,” Mr. Kutcher told “Armchair Expert” host Dax Shepard in a 2018 interview. The actor said he and his wife didn’t plan on giving their children any handouts because they already live “a really privileged life.”

He added: “They don’t even know it. And they’ll never know it because this is the only one that they’ll know.”