He was ready to give up the glamorous world of Hollywood to be a good father for Meadow and be with her.

Source: (L) Meadow Walker’s Instagram (R) Paul Walker’s Instagram

Being a hard-working professional as well as a dedicated parent can be difficult at times. While some enjoy their roles as both, some enjoy being a full-time parent for their children more than their work. For the late actor Paul Walker, his daughter was everything. He loved her more than anything in this world and didn’t want to spent even apart from her. But fate had other plans.

According to the Mirror, the Fast and the Furious star was just 25 when his then-girlfriend, Rebecca Soteros found out that she was expecting their daughter, Meadow Rain Walker. Since Walker was still trying to make a mark in Hollywood as an actor and had no desire to get hitched, the couple took the mutual decision to let things be the way they were.

 

While Soteros decided to raise Meadow in Hawaii, Walker continued to climb the high ladder to fame back in California.

Even though he visited his daughter sometimes and provided financial aid, he felt the need for the father-daughter relationship. He missed out on a lot of Meadow’s childhood due to work, making him wish that he could be more than a holiday dad. He once expressed his wish of being with his daughter to Entertainment Weekly. He said, “My heart was desperate for so many years with the situation with my daughter. She’s living in Hawaii and she’s there and I’m running here.”

When Meadow turned 13, she moved to California in 2011 to Walker’s delight. Now he could be with her and spend all the time in the world with her. This was just three years before his utterly shocking and untimely death. “She’s the best partner I’ve ever had. It’s so nuts. I’ve never had anything like this in my life,” he said.

Just like all parents, being a parent and balancing a professional life was challenging for Walker. He once admitted to being annoyed when execs offered him good scripts. “There’s a part of me who feels like I’m making up for lost time. I was like ‘Okay that’s it, I’m not working, leave me alone.”

But he also gushed about how Meadow being the supportive daughter would convince him to take up those scripts. He continued, “[But] she’s so funny. She sits me down and she’s like ‘When does it go? What months? I like to travel in the summertime anyway’.”

 

Paul’s brothers Cody and Caleb Walker opened up in an interview with E! News about his inner conflict. “He would always say, ‘I only have five more years until she graduates high school. Four more years…’ He was really starting to figure that out,” Cody said.

In another interview, his father, Paul Senior had revealed that Walker had signed for Agent 47 about a hitman, and, “…it was already agreed that if it was successful there would be three further movies made. That was something he confessed to me he wished he hadn’t done because he wanted to be with Meadow,” reported Hello Magazine.

 

Walker’s last year of work was rather “hectic” as he was shooting for Fast and the Furious 7, according to his brother Caleb, while “trying to figure out how to navigate being a dad.”

According to the Mirror, Caleb revealed that just hours before the fiery crash, Walker had “a spooky, groundbreaking kind of come-to-Jesus [conversation]” with mom Cheryl about him and Meadow’s future together. “He called me right after [and said], ‘Meadow’s living with me now. I want to retire… I want to be full time for Meadow. I want her to go to the same high school you went to.’ Like the whole nine,” Cody added.

 

Unfortunately, he succumbed to the combined effects of traumatic and thermal injuries when the car he was in, hit a lampost and burst into flames on November 30, 2013. According to The Guardian, his friend and financial advisor Roger Rodas, 38, who was with him died instantly due to multiple traumatic injuries. His mum Cheryl applied for Meadow’s custody after Walker’s death but later dropped her bid, reported the Mirror.

 

Walker loved his daughter beyond words and he tried everything he could to be a good father. Paul Senior, teary-eyed, in an interview, said, “He was so proud of her, she is incredibly intelligent and beautiful, and Paul wanted to be there for her as she grew up,” reported Hello Magazine. He continued, “In fact, he would have swapped his Hollywood fame for the quiet life with Meadow. Paul wasn’t big on fame and preferred to live modestly.”