Jake Johnson Says He Wouldn't Let His Spider-Verse Character Babysit His Twin Daughters
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Years after wrapping up his role as Nick Miller on "New Girl," Jake Johnson is still making us laugh with roles as Peter B. Parker in the animated Spider-Verse franchise and as Doug Renetti in Starz's "Minx." In the first "Spider-Verse" film, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," Peter is introduced as a divorced man who never saw himself having kids. However, in the second film, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," we learn that his character has rekindled his romance with his wife, Mary Jane, and become a father to a baby girl named Mayday.
While speaking about Peter's growth in a May 30 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Johnson said he's got "a lot of respect" for Peter because "he's trying to raise little Mayday while saving the world."
Johnson has a lot of similarities with Peter. First of all, the "Minx" actor is also a married man in real life. Although Johnson has rarely opened up about his personal life over the years, he told Marie Claire in 2012 that he and his wife, Erin Payne, have been "happily married" since 2005. And, similar to Peter, Johnson is a girl dad. He's the father to twins Elizabeth and Olivia Johnson, and while he may not be living a double life as a superhero, Johnson is also juggling his responsibilities as a father with his career as an actor.
Keep reading to learn more about Johnson's daughters.
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Jake Johnson's Twin Daughters, Elizabeth and Olivia Johnson
During a September 2022 appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show," Johnson revealed that he met his wife while she was working at a bar. He was a regular customer and always admired her from afar. After finally striking up the courage to ask her out, Johnson and Payne began dating and eventually got married. Nearly a decade after they tied the knot in 2005, the couple welcomed their daughters, Elizabeth and Olivia, in 2014, per Us Weekly.
Despite being in the public eye, Johnson and Payne have managed to keep details about their children private, like their birthdays. The girls are very rarely ever in the spotlight. In fact, because Johnson doesn't post photos of his daughters on social media, the only pictures fans have seen of Elizabeth and Olivia are from a 2022 fundraising event.
Johnson briefly spoke about his daughters in an August 2020 interview on "The Kelly Clarkson Show." At the time, the actor said he had been with his kids "a ton" during the pandemic and had been cooking them different meals, however, they wouldn't always enjoy it. "Cooking meals for kids is such a thankless gift," he said, explaining that since Elizabeth and Olivia are picky eaters, they would ask to eat cereal instead.
But because his daughters are fans of cooking shows, Johnson said he tricked them into eating their food by letting them pretend they were judges on a cooking show. "All of a sudden, they eat the whole meal because they're a judge. They'll say, 'I like the texture, but I don't like the cheese on the quesadilla,' and I'll be like, 'Thank you, judge. How about you?' and they'll have to take another bite," he said.
Most recently, Johnson mentioned his daughters in a May 26 interview with MTV UK while talking about his role as Peter in the latest Spider-Verse film. When asked if he would let his character babysit his kids, Johnson joked, "No, I would not. Well, actually, maybe, because he's Peter B. Parker and he could probably keep them alive."
He also revealed that he and Peter share a major similarity when it comes to fatherhood. "When you have kids, you're kind of obsessed with them," he said. "You think that they're so incredible and so special and so much greater than all of the other kids that have ever come before and you think you have created the greatest child that has ever existed on Earth."