Although Cam Newton loves being a dad of eight, he admits that sometimes his family’s size can be tough.
In this week’s episode of Special Forces, the recruits were asked to write “death letters” to their family and friends, allowing them to share everything they couldn’t when they were back home. As they all began to write their messages, Newton joked that his family was too big to write individual death letters.
“I ain’t got enough ink to write down all my damn kids,” the former NFL player, who is dad of eight, joked. “To my family, just know everything I did was to better the lives of everyone.”
“I guess it is true what they say, you don’t really enjoy the things until you no longer have them,” Newton continued. “I love to love on you: every kiss, every hug. Daddy loves you. Xoxo.”
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Newton is dad to eight kids — he shares four children with his ex-girlfriend, Kia Proctor — sons Chosen Sebastian, Camidas Swain and Cashmere Saint and daughter Sovereign-Dior Cambella — and helps raise Proctor’s older daughter, Shakira. Newton also shares two children with photographer LaReina Shaw — their son, Caesar and Shaw’s older son, Jaden, from a previous relationship.
In a previous episode of Special Forces, Newton shared a little bit about transitioning away from playing in the NFL. The former professional athlete, who left the sport in 2021 after playing for the Carolina Panthers that season, said that it’s been hard for him to feel like a “superman” to his eight kids now that he isn’t making the same amount of money anymore.
“I’m going into a different phase of my life that’s going to require a different form of myself,” Newton said on the show. “Being in the NFL, everyone knows there’s a large sum of money that comes to you in a short span of time and being away from the game for three years, those checks don’t come in the same. Like I got eight kids.”
“It hurts me knowing that I can’t provide like I once did. It hurts thinking that I’m Superman, but in reality, I’m just a man,” he added.
“There’s a famous quote that says in order to get something that you’ve never had, you go to do something that you’ve never done. At 35, I can literally say, ‘Okay now I’m getting prepared for this next chapter of my life.'”
Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
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