Tracker‘s Justin Hartley is standing by his decision to pay his daughter for her good grades — regardless of how expensive it has become.
“It’s an incentive,” Hartley, 49, said during an interview on the Monday, March 16, episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show. “It started off as this really good plan that I had, and now I think she’s independently wealthy and I’ve created a monster.”
Hartley, who shares 21-year-old daughter Isabella with ex-wife Lindsay Korman, noted that his approach has “worked,” adding, “I think she would probably get those grades even without the money, but she does get the money and gets straight As since her freshman year in high school.”
Despite other parents possibly having different thoughts, Hartley is proud of Isabella.
“So that is why I keep taking all these jobs, because I have to give all my money to my daughter,” he quipped. “She gets a decent amount — it’s a lot of hard work. It is like her job.”
The actor has previously opened up about his dynamic with his daughter. Hartley exclusively told Us Weekly in 2019 that he considered Isabella his “best friend.”
“We do everything from read to surf Instagram,” he shared. “We’ll go for walks. We played basketball yesterday morning. … We swim, we go for drives, we do everything.”
Hartley continued: “It’s nice. I’m lucky to have a [daughter] who I feel like tells me everything or can tell me everything. She probably doesn’t tell me everything, but I think she feels like she can. That was the goal. … She’s my best friend.”
The actor also reflected on being a working dad.
“My daughter’s very self-sufficient and very smart. She’s very resourceful, so I’m thankful that that’s the case [and] I get a lot of help from my ex-wife,” he shared. “I get a lot of help from my daughter. I mean, she’s the one that’s making it all go around. She deserves all the credit.”
More recently, Hartley reflected on sending Isabella off to college.
“It’s tough when they leave,” he said during an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show in 2022. “You think you’re ready for it, because as they get older, they gain independence, and they’re gone a lot anyway. They have their own friends and their own interests. You can always, I guess, go see them.”
Hartley admitted he was still coming to terms with it, adding, “But when they’re [really] gone, it really is a text or a phone call. And you know, she’s 18, so let’s be honest, it’s a text. I’m not getting phone calls, which is normal, but I hate it.”
