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Will Reeve grew up in extraordinary circumstances. As the son of Christopher Reeve, the first 'Superman' the world came to love, he learned resilience and purpose early on after a horse-riding accident left his father paralyzed. In this episode of "What I’ve Learned," the award-winning journalist, ABC News correspondent, and 'Good Morning America' contributor sits down with Esquire Editor-in-Chief Michael Sebastian to discuss grief, marriage, and the lessons that continue to shape him. Reflecting on the compassion and strength modeled by his mother, Dana Reeve, as well as the overwhelming support of his father’s friends, including Robin Williams, Will explains why he wouldn’t change a thing about his life.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00When Christopher Reeve tells you you're going outside and you're going to learn how to ride
00:02a bike, that's what you're doing.
00:04What is something that, you know, about your wedding day you wish you could tell your mom
00:07and dad?
00:07So much.
00:08I wish I could tell them the minute-by-minute breakdown.
00:11Have you found yourself?
00:12I don't know if I ever fully will.
00:18Hi, I'm Michael Sebastian, editor-in-chief of Esquire.
00:21Today, I'm joined by an award-winning journalist who's on Good Morning America and ABC World
00:25News Tonight.
00:25He's also the son of Christopher and Dana Reeve, and through his work has carried on
00:29their legacy.
00:30Please welcome Will Reeve.
00:32Will, thanks for being here.
00:34I think that you actually have the distinction of being the first father-son to do what I've
00:40learned.
00:41In 2003, your dad did one of these interviews, and in fact, I have the issue right here.
00:47No way!
00:47Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:48Jack Nicholson on the cover.
00:49This was the January 2004.
00:52How cool!
00:52And there he is, right there.
00:53That's my, that was the fancy living room.
00:56That was, oh, we shot him in the fancy living room?
00:58Yeah, well, where we would receive guests.
01:00This is our gift to you, the issue and what your dad is in.
01:04I love it.
01:05I will cherish this.
01:06Thank you so much.
01:07One of the things he said in that interview was, never accept ultimatums, conventional
01:12wisdom or absolutes, which is pretty good.
01:16No ultimatums.
01:16Yeah, no ultimatums, right.
01:18Where I want to start is to put you on the spot right away.
01:21Um, what is your favorite Superman movie?
01:24Superman 1.
01:24Superman 1.
01:25Yeah?
01:26Okay.
01:26How come?
01:26It's the only one I've seen.
01:28No.
01:29I'm mostly kidding.
01:30Um, but that was the one that my, I think my dad was proudest of, the first and second
01:35Superman.
01:35Yeah.
01:35The first one that he was in changed his life and changed movies in many ways
01:41as well.
01:42Yeah.
01:42Believe a man could fly.
01:44It was a totally new frontier and that's due in large part to the director, Dick Donner,
01:49and my dad who brought such a truth and groundedness to this otherwise somewhat hard to believe
01:56character, comic book figure.
01:58Um, so my dad was always proud of that, although he never identified himself as Superman.
02:04Yeah.
02:04Sort of left that to other people whether he wanted it or not.
02:06Of course.
02:07And so that's sort of the one that I would have ever watched, but it wasn't like when
02:12we were sitting at home, my dad was making me sit down and watch his own movies.
02:18We were watching sports or the news or cartoons or whatever I was into.
02:24Yeah.
02:24But that one I think is great and it's a treat to go back and I watch it through the
02:28son's eyes.
02:29Oh, there was my dad when he was, he shot it when he was like 24.
02:32That's a good, that's a solid answer, you know?
02:35So you are an ABC News correspondent, you're on Good Morning America, you're on World News
02:40Tonight.
02:41I want to ask you about why you got into journalism because, you know, when I watched Superman,
02:48the documentary about your dad, one thing that struck me is that, you know, after his
02:52accident, one of the darkest moments in your life, I'm sure, you had to face, your family
02:58had to face the media.
02:59You know, there was flashbulbs going off.
03:00It's in every newspaper.
03:02They have to give press conferences and so on.
03:04It felt really invasive in a way.
03:07And yet now you're a journalist.
03:08Yeah.
03:08What made you decide to become a journalist?
03:10Well, it's a two part answer.
03:12I think the reason that I wanted to do it is because it lights so many fires for me.
03:19Journalism and the job that I get to do every day for ABC News covers so many of my passions
03:25and interests and I would like to think strengths.
03:29Yeah.
03:29I am a decent communicator, although you can be the judge of that.
03:34I'm a decent writer.
03:35You could also be the judge of that if you wanted.
03:37I could send you a sample.
03:38I'm curious about people and I grew up in a house where it was very important to give
03:43a voice to the voiceless.
03:45And that's the work that I love to do most is telling other people's stories and getting
03:48to get out into the world and see what's really going on.
03:52But even prior to that, when my dad got injured, I was so young, but there was so much media
03:56attention around that.
03:57But then my dad realized that he had this power to be the face of spinal cord injury,
04:03to be an advocate for so many millions of people facing this terrible circumstance.
04:08So he invited the world in, in a way, to watch him on his journey.
04:13And that's what led to him and my mom as his primary caregiver and life partner, led them
04:18to be the inspiration for so many people.
04:21I think it also gave me a confidence and a power to exercise empathy.
04:29Now that I'm in this job, I have to sometimes ask uncomfortable questions of people on their
04:35worst day or I'm asking them to relive their hardest or darkest moments or have to make
04:41a phone call to someone who definitely doesn't want to pick up the phone from a journalist
04:46or from a news outlet.
04:47But I have been on the receiving end of those.
04:50And so I understand, I think, a little bit of what they may be going through.
04:56And I try to bring that first.
04:57I show up as a human first to my job and then as a professional after that.
05:03Yeah.
05:03Good answer.
05:04It's the truth.
05:05Is there a piece of advice that a journalist gave you at some point in your career that
05:09you still think about?
05:10One of the best and first pieces of advice was, say yes.
05:14Yes.
05:15You don't know what's on the other side of yes.
05:18No is a brick wall.
05:20Yeah.
05:20But if you say yes, it could be the best experience and opportunity of your life.
05:26Or it could lead you down a dead end, but you don't know until you say yes, until you
05:30say yes to that assignment.
05:31You say yes to that trip.
05:32You say yes to the grunt work that nobody else wants to do.
05:35And I tried to do that as a 20-year-old kid interning at ABC News, not knowing at all
05:44what to do or how to be.
05:45I just was figuring it out as I went.
05:47But I realized once you said yes, you got asked to do more things.
05:50That was piece number one.
05:52And then it was be reliable.
05:54Show up on time.
05:56Be where you say you were going to be.
05:57Do what you say you were going to do.
05:59That's work and life advice.
06:01And then be kind.
06:03Kindness gets you way further in life and at work than anything else.
06:07So long answer.
06:08But those are the three concurrent pieces of advice that I don't think you could have one
06:12without the other.
06:12Yeah.
06:13Yeah.
06:13We both work in the media.
06:15And right now, the public has a very low opinion, or at least they don't trust us as much as
06:19they have in the past.
06:21Why do you think that is?
06:22I think there's just a fractured society that we're living in right now.
06:25It used to be the three networks, right, on television.
06:28If you wanted the news, you had a finite number of places to go.
06:31And now, for many great reasons and with many great outcomes, you can get whatever news
06:38you want from basically wherever you want.
06:41But then when everything shatters into this kaleidoscopic viewpoint, everyone can see
06:47what they want to see from the angle they want to see it at.
06:51And I think that that just erodes trust over time.
06:53And then you have actors on every side of that crazy kaleidoscope, to continue the metaphor,
07:00who are pushing their views and their preferences and their opinions and trying to work toward
07:05their ends.
07:06And I think it just gets all confused.
07:07And the legacy media, as it were, then is forced to adapt.
07:13And I think in many ways we have.
07:15And in many ways there's still great work to be done.
07:17Is there a story that you've done that you couldn't shake after you reported it?
07:23There are many.
07:25The first wildfire I did, I grew up on the East Coast.
07:29We don't really have wildfires.
07:30It was new at ABC.
07:32I'd been there less than a year and I got sent to a wildfire in wine country, California.
07:37The way fire works is unpredictable.
07:39And we were in a safe space and then all of a sudden the fire, the wind switched and the
07:43fire was behind everybody.
07:45So we were more exposed than the firefighters.
07:47I had never seen a wildfire before and there I was surrounded by it, having to talk on television
07:53about it in about three minutes.
07:55And I'm like, how have I, what life choices have I made to end up that I'm past the front
08:01lines of the firefighters?
08:02So that stuck with me in a sense that I, that was the first time that I had felt fear.
08:07Yeah.
08:07And then another that I think of off the top of my head, Johnny and Matthew Goudreau, they
08:12were hockey playing brothers.
08:14Johnny was in the NHL, tragically died in an accident on the weekend of their sister's wedding.
08:19And I am the same age as Johnny Goudreau.
08:22I grew up loving hockey, sports in general, and their story just really stuck with me.
08:29Like, man, they're in the prime of their lives, they have these wives and babies and then
08:33it's just cut so short in such a tragic, senseless moment.
08:36And I had the, the privilege and the responsibility to interview their widows together for the first
08:44time on television.
08:46And maybe it's because we're all about the same age.
08:49Maybe it's because I was heading into my own marriage and I had started to think about
08:54starting a family and thinking about losing my own parents or whatever other life.
08:59loss that I've suffered.
09:00I just, it hit me in such a profound way that sticks with me.
09:06Their strength, the pain that they were in, but the fact that they were marching forward
09:10for their children.
09:11I recognized something from my own life in them.
09:15And I just, I found it beautiful and heartbreaking and that sticks with me and I think has made
09:20me hopefully even 1% a better, more empathetic person knowing what people go through like that.
09:25Yeah.
09:25You seem to be drawn to stories about resilience.
09:28Is that a conscious choice or is that just kind of innate?
09:31I don't know.
09:32I haven't really thought about it.
09:33So I guess it's not a conscious choice.
09:34Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:35I feel like I do my best work when I'm connecting with my subject on a human level.
09:40Mm-hmm.
09:40And I know resilience and I know grief and I know triumph over adversity.
09:45Yeah.
09:46And when I find people going through a similar experience, whatever stage they're on in that
09:50journey, I feel like that's a place I can connect.
09:53And I also think that telling people's stories is a privilege and a duty and a responsibility
09:59that I take very seriously.
10:01And I think that I have life experience telling my own story.
10:04So I feel like a good steward of theirs.
10:06So I suppose I'm drawn to it in that way.
10:08Yeah.
10:08A different kind of resilience.
10:10You had a very memorable live TV moment during the pandemic where you weren't wearing pants.
10:16That's right.
10:16But the companies do say they will scale up the program.
10:19Okay.
10:20We're a few years out from that now.
10:21How do you look at that?
10:22We're so, we're almost six, we're six years out from that now.
10:24Yeah.
10:25It was amusing then and still is.
10:27I always say I was glad I was the first one to do it.
10:31Because if you're the second, third, fifth, then you're just sloppy.
10:34Yeah.
10:35Right?
10:35One guy already got caught.
10:36Right.
10:37Then what are you doing?
10:37You should.
10:38But it was a time where we were all quarantined in our various homes.
10:43Yeah.
10:43And all of us, I know for a fact.
10:46Yeah.
10:46Would put on a jacket and tie and shirt like that and then go in sweats or shorts or whatever.
10:52And this was in the springtime.
10:54And so my routine was I would go down and do GMA on my phone with a ring light around
11:01me and a headphone in and then I would take off the top and put a t-shirt on and
11:07go for
11:08a run.
11:08It was nice to have a grounding routine in such an uncertain, ungrounded time.
11:14And that day the framing was just a little bit off and they switched from a close up on
11:19me to a two shot of me and the anchors back at the studio.
11:23And I was wearing gym shorts.
11:25People think I was wearing underwear.
11:26I just want to correct for the record for time immemorial.
11:30It was Nike running shorts that I still own because they're good shorts.
11:35Yeah.
11:35The part of me that was embarrassed was I take my job very seriously.
11:40I don't take myself particularly seriously.
11:44And I didn't want anyone who I worked with or for to think that I was slacking off on
11:51the job or that I didn't care or that I was sloppy.
11:54And once I knew that my bosses were like, buddy, we're all doing the same thing on our
11:58various Zooms and like there's a lot more serious stuff to worry about right now.
12:02I was like, all right, cool.
12:03Glad you find it funny like I do because it was silly.
12:06Okay.
12:07I want to go way back, talk about your childhood.
12:10And I want to start with a question about your mom.
12:14What's the biggest lesson you learned from her?
12:16Oh, we could do the whole thing on her.
12:19Dana Reeve was a singular figure in world history.
12:22She was the best.
12:24If I could distill her into one lesson, compassion can bring you really far.
12:31She was the most compassionate person that I had ever encountered until I met my wife.
12:37The way that my mom at age 33, 34, the age that I am now, was thrown into this great
12:48unknown
12:48of the love of her life, her own superhero in a way, getting paralyzed and unable to breathe on his
12:59own, unable to move,
13:00this whole terrifying new chapter of her life.
13:04But she had so much compassion for him, for me, for humanity that she was able to understand what my
13:13dad needed
13:14and take care of him and understand what I needed as a son, a young son, and take care of
13:19me.
13:19She understood what our family needed as a unit.
13:21Yeah.
13:21And she would always, not even tell me, more than just, she would show me through her own actions of,
13:30when you have the power or the platform or the privilege to be able to help other people,
13:38to lend a hand, to give a voice to the voiceless, whatever you want to call it,
13:42you have a moral obligation to do so.
13:44And it actually is more fulfilling for you.
13:47Yeah.
13:47You have to give more than you take.
13:49Yeah.
13:50I learned that from her, and it started with her compassion.
13:52Hmm.
13:53There's a number of things that you have experienced, unlike many other people,
13:57but maybe the most singular is that your dad was Superman.
14:01Yeah.
14:01What do you learn from that?
14:03I don't know.
14:04I think I learned it retroactively, because in the moment, like, he didn't see himself as Superman.
14:10That was just a role that he played and became known for.
14:13Yeah.
14:13He saw himself as Chris.
14:15He was a classically trained pianist.
14:16He spoke multiple languages.
14:18He could fly airplanes and sailboats and ski double black diamonds.
14:22He was a good tennis player.
14:24And, like, he had such an interesting and full life that had nothing to do with the fact that people
14:31knew him as Superman.
14:32So he certainly didn't see himself that way.
14:34So he never presented himself to our family as Superman.
14:38He was just dad.
14:39And so I didn't see him as Superman because he played it.
14:42I saw him as Superman because he was my dad, and I had a great relationship with him.
14:46So he was my hero, my best friend.
14:48That's, I guess, what I learned, is that it ultimately doesn't really matter.
14:52But you can make that fame or that platform that fame brings you matter if you apply it.
15:00Your parents were both, obviously, public figures, but they lived, you know, very private lives.
15:06What did you learn from that?
15:08That everyone's just a person.
15:10That's all.
15:10Yeah.
15:11And that it's more fun to be able to do what you want.
15:14And what they wanted to do was go sailing and skiing and ride bikes around town.
15:20And, by the way, I was born after my dad's peak of Superman-ness, right?
15:26Yeah.
15:26I'm sure that when he was in his late 20s, early 30s, living between London and New York and gallivanting
15:33around, like, being famous was pretty cool.
15:36Yeah.
15:36But I think as he aged and he met my mom and I was born, like, priorities shift, as they
15:42do for anybody.
15:43Yeah.
15:43And their priorities were just having a meaningful, quiet life.
15:48Yeah.
15:48You're a famous person, though, now.
15:50I am not.
15:51I mean, you're on TV every day, you know what I mean?
15:54Sure.
15:55Does that influence the way that you live as well, though, having seen that example from your parents?
16:00I guess so.
16:01I think, but whether anyone knows who I am or not does not necessarily influence the way that I act.
16:08Yeah.
16:08Like, I try to treat people with kindness and respect because that's the right thing to do.
16:13Yeah.
16:13Not because they might know who I am and if I'm rude to them or whatever, they're going to go
16:20post on social media about it.
16:22Right.
16:23That it's because you should treat people with kindness.
16:26So, in the, what I've learned that your dad did, he said, living in fear is not living at all.
16:32Which is a great quote.
16:33Hmm.
16:33I'm curious what you're afraid of.
16:35Hmm.
16:36My mind's going two places.
16:38Because, like, I'm afraid of small enclosed spaces and elevators and snakes and, like, all those types of things.
16:46Right, right.
16:47Bears.
16:47I'm scared of bears.
16:48When do you ever encounter a bear?
16:50Never.
16:51I'm never going to encounter a bear.
16:52That's the thing.
16:52Yeah.
16:53I encounter elevators all the time and I'm always at the heart rate going crazy.
16:57Yeah, good point.
16:57I see I live in New Jersey so there's, like, black bears around sometimes.
16:59I live, okay, that's fair.
17:00Yeah, yeah.
17:00I live in Brooklyn and I...
17:03Is there an elevator in your building?
17:03There is, but I take the stairs.
17:05Yeah?
17:05Really?
17:06You do?
17:06Yeah.
17:07I take the stairs, yeah.
17:09Anyway, that's not what the question was.
17:10What about an airplane?
17:11That's an enclosed space.
17:12I know, but you just sort of give yourself over to the experience, I guess.
17:16I don't know.
17:16Okay, yeah.
17:17Humans are hard to figure out.
17:18Things are not black and white.
17:20Yeah, exactly.
17:20This video might be, but life is not.
17:22My fear used to be of abandonment when I was... and I learned this through therapy.
17:29I didn't know as a 12-year-old or 11-year-old, whatever, that I had a fear of abandonment
17:35because, I don't know, that's a little... it's an advanced topic.
17:38Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:39But I learned later on that when you go through a traumatic experience like your father being
17:45paralyzed and that shakes your world.
17:48I was not yet three years old when he was injured.
17:51And then we got used to that new normal, but it was a new normal.
17:53And then he dies when I'm 12.
17:57Mm-hmm.
17:57And that shakes my world and that introduces grief into the equation.
18:01That's when the fear of being like, what if?
18:03What if something...
18:04What if I'm alone?
18:05And then I was in the sense that my mom then died 18 months after my dad.
18:10So I was alone in the sense that my parents were gone, which is a world-altering, life-changing,
18:15obviously, event.
18:16But I was surrounded by so much love that I was never an orphan.
18:22Yeah.
18:23Like, I was not alone in this world and I never have been and I never will be.
18:26But I was afraid, it turns out, as a kid of abandonment.
18:30What if they leave?
18:30And for... basically, since they've gone, it turns out that I've never been abandoned.
18:34Yeah.
18:35Because, yes, they died, but they didn't leave me in here.
18:39Yeah.
18:39I have so many parts of them and memories of them within me.
18:44And I have this whole village of people who love me and who I love right back.
18:48And now I have my wife and we're going to start a family.
18:50And there's no chance that I could ever be abandoned.
18:54Yeah.
18:54This sort of broke my heart.
18:56I think it's in the Superman documentary that you say, March 6, 2006, which is the day
19:02that your mom died, you said, I've been alone since then.
19:06Right.
19:06Man, that's just devastating.
19:09But on January 17th of this year, you got married to your wife, Amanda.
19:14Is that, you know, a before and after there?
19:15Is that bookend moments?
19:16Yeah.
19:17I mean, that's, if you're writing the story, I suppose you could call it the bookend moments.
19:21But again, life not black and white.
19:24Yeah.
19:25What I was trying to say in the documentary when I said I've been alone since then is that
19:29I haven't had my parents since then.
19:32So that will always leave anyone who goes through that type of loss with a hole.
19:36Yeah.
19:37In some way.
19:39But I had so many people who loved me and were there for me.
19:43It wasn't like I was asking for money on the sidewalk.
19:46Right.
19:46You know, I was well taken care of every day of my life.
19:49Yeah.
19:49But then meeting Amanda years ago and now being married, that is the culmination or the crowning
19:58achievement of a journey that I've been on for quite some time since my parents died.
20:02Yeah.
20:03Of proving to them, to me, to the world that, like, I'm okay and life is great.
20:08Like, you don't have to worry about me.
20:10Yeah.
20:10I feel so loved by Amanda, by our families, by the memories of my parents, and by strangers
20:20and colleagues and friends I've always felt so, like, supported and rooted for.
20:25And it's so gratifying.
20:27People seem to want me to succeed, which I am – it kind of blows my mind.
20:32I'm so grateful for it.
20:34But I'm also like, all right, I'll try.
20:37You know?
20:37It goes back to your biggest fear, right?
20:38Yeah.
20:38If all of these people want you to succeed, then it's probably like, well, shit, I really
20:42hope I succeed.
20:43I don't necessarily – I don't crave the approval of other people.
20:48I want people to like me.
20:49Look, I'm on TV for a living, right?
20:50I've got to have some chip in my brain that is seeking external validation of some kind.
20:54But what I do every day is try to live up to the standard that I have set for myself.
21:00And that standard comes from dozens, if not hundreds, of inputs from people and experiences
21:06in my life that have shaped me.
21:08Yeah.
21:09You did an interview with Anderson Cooper, I think a couple of years ago.
21:12And you made reference to having to sometimes go to a dark place.
21:18You kind of compared it to like going to the gym or reading a book.
21:21You know, you go to the gym to strengthen yourself.
21:23You read a book to get smarter.
21:24And you go to a dark place.
21:26And I'm wondering if you can talk about that a little bit.
21:28Like, what do you mean by that?
21:29What is that dark place?
21:30What do you learn from that?
21:31Well, I was speaking in reference to my own grief of losing my parents at a young age.
21:36Yeah.
21:36And for a long time right after they passed away, to my point about trying to live for
21:42other people or make sure everyone knew that I was okay, I would often pretend that I was
21:49okay when really I wasn't in a terrible place, but I would have liked a hug or something.
21:55Yeah.
21:55But I got a lot of positive feedback that like, oh, he's doing so well that like I thrived off
22:02that and then over time as I worked on myself and as I just matured, the natural process
22:07of growing up and understanding life a little more fully was that no, what I actually need
22:13to do is lean into the pain that I've lived in my life and let it serve me as opposed
22:18to just having it hang out here, taking up space in my life that could be better utilized
22:24for something else.
22:25So going to the dark place doesn't mean sitting in a dark room listening to sad music or
22:32it can.
22:32Yeah.
22:33Like it's whatever works for you or in this case for me at any given time.
22:38The result is I understand myself, my shortcomings, my weaknesses, my dark place is a little bit
22:45better and it enables me to shine a light in there and maybe spruce the place up.
22:50And over time, I think it has made me better adjusted to life and better adjusted to the possibility
22:59of other bad things happening because, you know, just because I went through tragic circumstances
23:05as a young kid doesn't preclude me from enduring more in the future.
23:10Yeah.
23:10I just got a head start on people.
23:11But I think I'm not inoculated by any stretch, but I'm prepared at least for any hardship.
23:21And it doesn't have to be something as traumatic or dramatic as grief or losing someone.
23:25But any adversity, I've probably been through in some form or have a similar experience.
23:33So that's why I go to the dark place.
23:36It's like going to the gym or reading a book.
23:38Yeah.
23:38I haven't changed my stance on it since I told Anderson that.
23:43Okay.
23:44So I have two daughters.
23:45They're 10 and 7 and they can both ride a bike.
23:49But it took me days if not weeks to teach them.
23:52Yeah, your back probably hurt.
23:53Oh my God.
23:54It was, you know, I'm grateful that they can ride a bike.
23:56But like, you know, that was a huge pain in the ass, right?
23:59Loved it, loved it, you know.
24:00But your dad taught you how to ride a bike.
24:02Yes.
24:03When he was in a wheelchair after his accident.
24:05Yes.
24:05Tell me about that experience.
24:07It is now one of my favorite memories and was then too, but it has taken on different meaning now
24:12because of the significance that it would have to him in his wheelchair.
24:16For years, especially right after the accident, he thought that he would be less of a father
24:20because he couldn't do all the physical things that a father might traditionally do.
24:25Mm-hmm.
24:25Have a catch.
24:27Teach someone to ride a bike.
24:28Yeah.
24:28He was a master communicator.
24:32Hmm.
24:34And he was also probably annoyed that his son was still riding around with training wheels
24:39because we grew up in a neighborhood where every kid was about the same age, but I was just
24:44younger than everybody else.
24:45So I was always playing catch up and they all knew how to ride a bike and I didn't.
24:49So my dad was like, all right, we're going outside.
24:52Let me tell you, I might not have seen my dad as Superman the character, but when Christopher
24:57Reeve tells you you're going outside and you're going to learn how to ride a bike, that's
25:00what you're doing.
25:00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:01And he was commanding and he was my hero and my best friend, so he told me exactly what
25:06to do and I did it and it worked.
25:08And it was awesome because I then knew how to ride a bike and he knew that he was every
25:15bit the father that I needed.
25:18Yeah.
25:18And that was more than enough.
25:20Yeah, yeah.
25:20I think that was really gratifying for him.
25:22Okay, so in the documentary you made, Finding My Father, you make an offhanded remark as you're
25:27driving through Baja, California.
25:29You say, turns out the road to finding yourself through your father's path is bumpy.
25:34Have you found yourself?
25:36I don't know if I ever fully will.
25:38Yeah.
25:38I understand myself or what animates and motivates me now better than I ever have.
25:46Part of that comes with marriage.
25:48I'm new to the club but have been in love with my wife for years now and we're looking
25:54forward to hopefully starting a family and that's the number one goal in my life is to
26:00just be a father.
26:01So I think I feel, I don't know if I've found myself, but I'm certainly, I certainly have
26:07a better understanding of who I am and who I want to be and how to get closer to that.
26:14What kind of dad do you want to be?
26:16I want to be emotionally and physically present.
26:19I want my children to know that nothing is more important to me and to their mom than
26:28their health and happiness.
26:30I want to be around.
26:33I was so lucky to grow up with two parents who were just around a lot.
26:38We had dinner together basically every night.
26:40They came to all my stuff, school, sports, play dates.
26:44So I didn't have my parents very long but I got a lot of time with them.
26:48Yeah.
26:49I want to give the same experience to my children.
26:51I want to be a father who my kids look up to, not because of anything I do professionally
26:57or what kind of house we have or what car they get driven to school in, but by how their
27:04father moves through the world, how he treats other people, and how loved at every single
27:10second they feel by their father and by their significantly more amazing mother.
27:16That's the goal.
27:17And I will keep constantly checking in on that goal because there's nothing more important.
27:21Yeah.
27:22You visited the set of the most recent Superman movie and you saw the actor who played Superman,
27:29David.
27:29Yeah.
27:30In that suit.
27:31What was that like for you?
27:32It was amazing.
27:33The whole day was great.
27:35James Gunn, the director, Peter Safran, the executive producer, co-head of DC Studios,
27:40invited me and Amanda down.
27:41They were shooting, you know, non-actor stuff.
27:44Yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:44And all of a sudden I hear, hey, Will.
27:47And I look up and it's Superman.
27:49And it's David.
27:50And he's carrying his little baby.
27:52It was a Norman Rockwell painting come to life.
27:55He's got this baby in a little pram, little stroller thing.
27:58And he's Superman, full cape and everything.
28:02And it was a joy to meet him then.
28:05And we've become friends since.
28:07And he's shown up for me.
28:08I've tried to show up for him.
28:09I was lucky enough to have a cameo in the movie, which was cool.
28:12Just getting to be on the set and see this big budget movie get all like done was very
28:17cool.
28:17And then meeting David and I let him know as if I'm some custodian of Superman, which
28:24my siblings and I most certainly are not.
28:26That was the main message was like, do whatever you go for it, man.
28:32We're not the gatekeepers of what Superman is or isn't.
28:36Yeah.
28:36So we said, hey, like, this is awesome.
28:39You get to play Superman.
28:40That's so cool.
28:41Yeah.
28:41Have a blast.
28:42If we can be of any service, like, happy to be.
28:46Your father's favorite quote was, a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength
28:52to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
28:56What does that mean to you?
28:58It means that everyone can be a hero.
29:00Anyone can be a hero.
29:02We all are ordinary individuals.
29:04We all, whether we know it or not, possess the strength to overcome and endure.
29:10And you don't have to be famous.
29:12You don't have to have been a superhero.
29:15You don't have to go through some terrible adversity and then triumph over it to be a hero.
29:21You don't have to save people's lives.
29:23You just have to face whatever ordinary challenges you or your loved ones face and find the strength
29:30to persevere.
29:32And that makes you a hero.
29:33A year and a half after your dad died, you know, your mom dies from lung cancer.
29:38Your neighbors, Ralph and Ann Pucci, adopt you.
29:41What did you learn from them?
29:43I'm still learning from them.
29:44They're my family.
29:45I learned that family takes many forms.
29:48It's not just who you're born into.
29:50Yeah.
29:51I don't really have enough or the right words to describe what they've meant to me, what they've done for
29:59me, how much I love them.
30:00So much of the great stuff that has happened in my life is a direct result of moving in with
30:05my next door neighbors.
30:06And living as close to my previous life as I could have given the bizarre and tragic circumstances of my
30:17parents dying.
30:18I got to go to the same school that I was already going to.
30:21I got to live in the same town.
30:23I got to have the same friends.
30:25And that's really important when you're a preteen and teenager, like having a routine and a, you know, solid base
30:32at home really makes all the difference.
30:35That's what I mean by my life could have been radically different.
30:37Your dad was very close with Robin Williams.
30:41What did you learn from Robin Williams?
30:44That anything can be made funny, anything can be made fun of, and that friendships can be brotherhoods.
30:55My dad and Robin didn't call themselves friends. They called themselves brothers.
30:59The ways that they showed up for each other, people don't even really know about, that I don't even really
31:04know about, that predate me.
31:06And then, of course, the parts that I do know about, the way that Robin and his then wife, Marsha,
31:11showed up for our family in our time of need.
31:14The way that we would try to show up for them whenever they needed something from us.
31:18We would spend a lot of time together, family vacations and things.
31:20And it was just a lot of joy, a lot of reminiscing, a lot of love.
31:24I also learned from Robin there's like a time and a place for everything, in the sense that he was
31:31the funniest person maybe ever to live when he was in the conversation, right?
31:34But he also was one of the smartest, most thoughtful, deepest people that I've ever met.
31:40And there's a time for either of those.
31:44Yeah.
31:44Okay, so your new wife, Amanda, is a wedding planner.
31:47She is.
31:48What is it like planning a wedding with somebody who does that professionally?
31:52For me, super convenient.
31:53Yeah.
31:54For her, I think a bit stressful.
31:55She and her mom, Victoria Dubin, are planning partners.
31:58So my wife and mother-in-law run a business that plans these nice weddings.
32:03Yeah.
32:04And they planned our wedding.
32:05And just getting to be along for the ride with my amazing wife who astounds me in so many ways.
32:14As she created her own dream, she took dreams from her head and her heart and made them real.
32:21Yeah.
32:21And to get to be at the center of that but also see all the really hard work that went
32:27into it just gave me a new level of appreciation for what she does, how hard what she does is,
32:36and how gratifying it can be for the people who get to experience it.
32:42You write notes to Amanda when you travel, yes?
32:45Yes.
32:45Yeah?
32:45Or she to me.
32:46Yeah, that's what we did.
32:47Why is it so important?
32:48It's such a delight.
32:50I travel all the time for work.
32:52It's not fun just going to bed and waking up alone in a hotel room in a strange city.
32:56I never wake up with the sun because I'm always out the door getting ready for Good Morning America, and
33:01it's always dark.
33:02Yeah.
33:02And that can get lonely and tedious and tiring.
33:06And so to open my toiletry kit or take out my gym shoes and find a post-it in Amanda's
33:13handwriting, just nothing crazy, just special, like, I love you, have a good trip, I'll see you soon.
33:18Yeah.
33:19It just makes me feel closer to her, closer to home.
33:22And I try to reciprocate when she travels or leave a note on the mirror.
33:26Yeah.
33:27It's just a nice little, like, gesture of love.
33:29Yeah.
33:29And we keep them.
33:31So now we have just a collection.
33:32Yeah.
33:32So for your nuptials, you wore your dad's cufflinks and a Todd Snyder pocket square that had your mom's handwriting
33:41on it.
33:42What did it say?
33:43It said, I love you.
33:44Hmm.
33:45And Amanda gave it to me.
33:48I open up this box, and it's a white pocket square.
33:51And then I, like, open one of the folds, and I see immediately recognized my mom's handwriting.
33:56And it's embroidered, I love you.
33:59And I immediately start crying because I knew what it was.
34:03And I looked to Amanda, I go, how did you do this?
34:05Hmm.
34:05Like, oh my God, this is the most meaningful, like, special, thoughtful thing.
34:09And she found a letter that my mom had written and then took just I love you and sent it
34:16to, I don't know, the person who sews things into pocket squares.
34:19Yeah.
34:19And I wore it at our wedding, and I will cherish that forever as a physical item and what it
34:28says about the person I love most in the world, my wife.
34:32Yeah.
34:32And who she is.
34:34I loved it.
34:34And we're wearing, it's my dad's wedding ring.
34:37No way, really?
34:38And she's got my mom's.
34:40Wow.
34:40That's very cool.
34:41We had these in a safe for 20 years.
34:43Wow.
34:44I'm lucky enough to have both of my parents alive right now.
34:48But I imagine that one of the hard parts as time goes on is not being able to call them
34:53and tell them about significant moments in your life.
34:56Yeah.
34:57You just got married.
34:58What is something that, you know, about your wedding day or that whole experience that you wish you could tell
35:02your mom and dad?
35:04So much.
35:04I wish I could tell them the minute by minute breakdown.
35:08But I think to distill down the message that I would want to share with them is, like, I'm doing
35:24great.
35:25Life is so great.
35:27Life is so great.
35:27I am so happy.
35:28Mm-hmm.
35:29I married the woman that I love and we're hoping to start a family.
35:32And the room for our wedding was filled with people who we love and who love us.
35:39And it was really fun.
35:41And it was beautiful.
35:42Amanda and her mom designed the hell out of it.
35:45Everything went to plan.
35:47Mm-hmm.
35:48It was just a perfect night, perfect weekend, perfect start to this new chapter of our lives.
35:53And I thought about my parents the whole time, of course, but not in a sad way.
35:57Not, of course, I wish they were there.
35:59And we made gestures to them in reference to them to remind ourselves and our guests that my parents were
36:05present.
36:06But we didn't let it hang over in a negative way at all about what we've lost.
36:10It was more about what we were creating together.
36:13And I thought about them at that moment in their lives in 1992 when they got married.
36:19And all that lay ahead for them, or so they thought, and then their lives changed so drastically.
36:26And I know how happy I am right now.
36:28I know what I have planned for the future.
36:30But what unforeseen obstacles are out there, I'll never be able to know.
36:35But I know right now I am happy and fulfilled and on this path that feels so right for me
36:42and for Amanda.
36:43And let's cherish that.
36:44Yeah.
36:45And be as present as we can.
36:48And so what I would want them to know is that that's what I was thinking about and that I'm
36:54really doing great.
36:55Mm-hmm.
36:55And the wedding was a physical manifestation of that, I suppose.
37:01Yeah.
37:02What's your perception of God now compared to, you know, when you were 12?
37:06My perception of God, you should do this for a living.
37:10I want to say something smart and interesting, but I don't really have something interesting.
37:15But I will tell you that I think when I was 12 I was pretty convinced that God didn't exist.
37:22Mm-hmm.
37:22Because I thought when bad, scary things happened, you were supposed to pray that they didn't.
37:28So I prayed that they didn't and yet they did.
37:32Yeah.
37:32So I was convinced like, oh, well, the line's clearly disconnected.
37:36Mm-hmm.
37:37There's nobody up there on the other end.
37:39Mm-hmm.
37:39But then I've lived subsequent decades.
37:42So many blessings have come my way.
37:45So many challenges that I could grow from have come my way.
37:49So many pieces of evidence arguing in favor of something bigger than all of us have presented themselves that I
37:58think I have a more open-minded idea of God or religion.
38:05Yeah, yeah.
38:06You know, in conversation with you, there's this line from a Bruce Springsteen song, Badlands, that keeps echoing in my
38:12head.
38:13The line is, it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive.
38:17When you're having these moments of joy at your wedding or something like that, or even in the past, was
38:22there ever any kind of a feeling like, I should be grieving right now or something?
38:26I don't, so to sort of reframe it a little bit, because I've never felt guilt for finding joy in
38:36my life.
38:36Mm-hmm.
38:37I've never felt that I should be sad in a moment where I was not because it is a gift
38:43to be happy.
38:44Mm-hmm.
38:44Mm-hmm.
38:45And my parents and anyone would want me to be happy.
38:51Yeah.
38:51What I did at a younger age wonder in the moments of, like, pure carefree joy was like, is it,
39:02should I be, like, why am I not sad?
39:07Yeah.
39:08And then I realized, like, you should be grateful for that.
39:11Yeah.
39:11The fact, you know what I mean?
39:13Yeah.
39:13Like, life is hard enough.
39:14Yeah, yeah.
39:14That in moments of joy, let them be joyous.
39:17Yeah.
39:18Don't drag yourself down for no reason.
39:20Right, right.
39:20Do you ever get sick of people like me asking you questions about grief?
39:25No.
39:26It's something we should talk about more.
39:27Yeah.
39:28Yeah.
39:29Simple as that.
39:30I have experience.
39:31Yeah, yeah, yeah.
39:32And I was raised, if you have the ability to help someone in some way, you should.
39:38Yeah.
39:38So if me talking about grief makes it easier for someone to either talk about their own grief or understand
39:44their own grief.
39:45Yeah.
39:47Please, let me.
39:48Yeah.
39:49Let's talk about your career again for just a moment.
39:51What's the five, ten year plan?
39:54Oh, man.
39:54Do you want to be, you know, an evening anchor?
39:59Is it something beyond?
40:00I like waking up early.
40:02You do?
40:02I like GMA.
40:03I'm a morning person.
40:03You like waking up that early?
40:05I do.
40:05I mean, this is a cliche question to ask somebody who's on a morning show, but what time do you
40:09wake up?
40:10On a normal day where I'm a correspondent, which is my job, I'm a national correspondent, I wake up 5
40:16a.m. a little bit before.
40:17Yeah.
40:18Which plenty of people do.
40:19Yeah, I was going to say, that's not terrible.
40:20It's not bad.
40:20I thought you were going to be like 2 o'clock in the morning.
40:22No, but when I anchor, when I have the privilege of filling in on the anchor desk, then I wake
40:25up at 4, it takes me half an hour to get out the door.
40:29From the time I wake up to the time I leave, it's half an hour no matter what.
40:32Yeah.
40:33The 5 to 10 year plan suggests that I have a full comprehension of where my industry is going or
40:41what new technologies will be dominant, new platforms will be in vogue.
40:46But overall, to keep it as broad as possible, is I love what I do, I want to do more
40:53of it at a bigger scale.
40:55I intend to hang out with my family.
40:57I know that's not a professional realm, but that's the, whatever gets me closer to more time with my family
41:07will be how I orient my career.
41:10Yeah.
41:11In your dad's what I've learned interview, the interviewer asked him a question that's basically the same one that I
41:17asked you, which is, where are you going to be in 10 years?
41:20And your dad's answer was, if you come and see me in 10 years, I will walk to the door
41:25and answer it.
41:27In your role on the board of directors of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, do you think that we
41:32are close to that kind of treatment for somebody in your dad's condition, which is they could get up and
41:37walk again?
41:37Yeah, the hope that my dad trafficked in all those years ago is only more tangible and an even greater
41:48currency now because of the expansion of scope of treatments and potential cures for spinal cord injuries and paralysis.
41:56Yeah.
41:57Now there are technologies that didn't exist when my dad was injured that have allowed people to regain physical functions
42:08in terms of stepping and standing and walking, but also secondary functions like bowel control, bladder control, sexual function, temperature
42:16regulation, all the things that go out the window when you get paralyzed, when your brain stops being able to
42:22communicate with the rest of your body that people take for granted.
42:25Mm-hmm.
42:26There are technologies that, you know, with some simple implantation, bring those back.
42:31Yeah.
42:31So my dad's idea of I'm going to get up and walk to the door was probably unrealistic when he
42:38said that to Esquire at the time, but he had to think that way because that's what got him up
42:44every morning.
42:45Yeah.
42:45That's what sustained him.
42:46Yeah.
42:47But now, to answer your question, yeah, we're closer.
42:49I credit, and we all do at the Reeve Foundation and people in the spinal cord injury and paralysis communities,
42:56credit my dad and my mom for leading the charge.
43:00When my dad was injured, spinal cord injury research was considered the graveyard of neuroscience, meaning nobody really wanted to
43:07do it because it was so hopeless.
43:08Yeah.
43:09Like, people get a spinal cord injury, whatever function they regain in the first 24 to 48 hours, that's probably
43:15what you got.
43:16Yeah.
43:16And it was about pain and life management from that point on.
43:20And now, it's a booming field in the sense that people see real potential.
43:26Mm-hmm.
43:27So, the hope is even more real than it was then.
43:30Yeah.
43:30I heard a podcast that you did with David Kessler, who's your grief counselor, right?
43:36And you said something in that podcast that, I gotta be honest with you, I didn't quite believe.
43:41You said, I wouldn't change a thing about my life.
43:45You mean that?
43:46I stand by that and I always will.
43:48Really?
43:48I've had the best life.
43:49Every single day of my life has been a privilege in every sense of that word.
43:55Hmm.
43:56I was born to the two best parents ever to do it.
43:59I was raised in a community and in a home environment that I think had the right values.
44:09I was given love and support and encouragement and conquerable challenges every day.
44:18I had the opportunity to go to great schools.
44:22I've had a lot of friends.
44:24I've gotten to travel the world.
44:26I have a great job.
44:28I have an amazing wife.
44:31There's food on the table at all my meals.
44:34Mm-hmm.
44:34I have a roof over my head.
44:36I wouldn't change a thing about my life.
44:38The reason you probably don't believe me is the pesky fact that my dad was paralyzed, then died, then my
44:44mom died, and that all happened in a very short period of time when I was very young.
44:47Why I wouldn't change that is because it gave me a lot of strength and resolve and toughness that a
44:52lot of people would be well served to have in their lives.
44:55Wow.
44:56Okay.
44:56Now you've convinced me.
44:58All right.
44:58The last question is if you could give advice to your younger self, and there's kind of so many moments
45:05I would be curious about, but your three-year-old self, your 12-year-old self, and so on.
45:12But I want you to choose that.
45:13If you could go back and give advice knowing what you know now, what would you tell that younger version
45:18of Will Reeve?
45:19I think I would tell every version, whether it was a decade ago, young 20s.
45:25Mm-hmm.
45:26A decade prior to that when my mom dies, 13.
45:29A decade prior to that, three.
45:31Tell Will at all those ages, it's going to be all right.
45:35Just keep moving forward.
45:37Mm-hmm.
45:38Just know that you're going to be okay.
45:41And also maybe buy some Amazon stock.
45:44Of course.
45:45Yeah.
45:46Will Reeve, thank you very much for being here.
45:48I appreciate it.
45:48Yeah, this was great.
45:49Watch him on Good Morning America.
45:51Watch him on World News Tonight.
45:52Watch him where else?
45:53Any?
45:54I don't really post on Instagram, but you can check me out there.
45:57I don't know.
45:57Watch me.
45:59Watch me wherever.
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