[MUSIC PLAYING]
Mack is an amazing father.
I can't even describe it.
MACK WILDS: I have one child, only one.
Her name is Tristan, named after me.
CHRISTINA WILDS: Just seeing how he deals with her
and how he interacts with her, it warms my heart.
MACK WILDS: I want to teach my daughter,
one, to enjoy who she is.
Enjoy her femininity, her blackness.
But also understand that you are entitled to everything
that the world has to offer, just like anybody else, no
matter gender, color, anything.
Me and Christina met when I was about 15, 16 years old,
on the set of "The Wire."
So funny.
She didn't like me, at all.
We have a cool love story.
It's my favorite love story.
We like--
Our third, fourth day on set, I remember
she was walking out of the classroom, and it was cold.
And I had this hoodie.
And I just took the hoodie off, and I gave it to her.
And that started our friendship, at first.
CHRISTINA WILDS: And so, since 15, we've been on and off.
But we always came back to each other
I always held our love in my heart.
MACK WILDS: We knew if we were dealing with anybody else,
if we would have gotten married to anybody
else or any type of situation like that,
we would have been settling.
CHRISTINA WILDS: It was the night
of our daughter's birthday.
We had this really cute birthday celebration for her.
We were going to see the Christmas lights.
Had Tristan in the car.
We're all, you know, I gotta to turn off all the lights.
You got to, kind of, maneuver through the joint.
Talking about marriage and what we thought it would be,
he told me that he wanted to do this big proposal
in front of all my friends.
You know, I'm making sure that I do it the right way.
CHRISTINA WILDS: And I was like, I don't want that.
MACK WILDS: She was like, I just want to be with the man
that I loved since I was a kid.
I think he was surprised.
MACK WILDS: I was like, we can get married tomorrow.
CHRISTINA WILDS: I thought it was a joke.
I asked him about 50 times, literally.
And we got married, literally, the next week.
CHRISTINA WILDS: Our souls are one, now.
Our mind, our spirits are connected.
MACK WILDS: I go to Christina for my ideas.
And I look to Tristan for my inspiration.
So, you know, they're, literally, everything.
I think being a father means it is up to you.
You are one of the main molders of this child, boy or girl.
So, what you do, how you move will dictate
the child that you are molding.
CHRISTINA WILDS: I am so proud of him
for keeping our daughter in mind always.
He is a hard worker.
I've seen him be in a dark place and, literally, work himself
out of that place, especially when our daughter
was getting ready to be born.
He just pushed through.
MACK WILDS: Earlier this year, I was in a really dark place.
Honestly, I had been there for a while.
I was just letting life take me wherever she may.
The stress of. being in this business,
on top of growing up the way that I have and/or
the PTSD of just growing up in the hood,
seeing a bunch of your friends die, go to jail, whatever, I
think it really, really takes a toll on you,
especially if it's things that you haven't unpacked.
I was watching this Dave Chappelle special, right?
He was talking about Anthony Bourdain,
how he travels the world.
It seems like he does all of the coolest things in the world,
and the man kills himself.
I prayed.
Listen, God, if I'm supposed to be here, if I'm supposed to do
something, I need a light.
Yeah, I kind of just started to think
people would probably be better off without me being here, man.
Tristan was a very big part of the motivation to get
pulled out of that dark place.
That's the push I needed to get towards the light.
Just, a certain stigma on men who express themselves,
speak about feelings or anything.
A lot of times, we feel like we have to internalize them.
We have to save them for later, and then later never comes.
That we have to just, kind of, soldier on
or march on because we're supposed to be strong.
We're supposed to not feel things.
We're supposed to continue with the fight,
when, in all actuality, there are times
where we just need to rest.
I can't tell you what to do.
I can't tell you the right way.
I think everybody has their own methods
and things of that nature.
I could tell you that, for me, therapy has worked.
We all deserve therapy.
We all deserve those moments to ourself,
to just not be afraid to be you, to take off the guards.
We all deserve that.
We all need that, especially in today's day and age.
Shout out to my therapist for showing me the way to unpack.
Thank you for Tristan for giving me the fight.
[EXHALES] You could have been anywhere else in the world,
but God brought you here.
And I thank him for that.
I've done a bunch of things in my life,
seen a bunch of places.
There's nothing like being your dad, nothing at all.