Appearing on The Jonathan Ross Show, the Fast and the Furious actor spoke candidly about his friendship with his fellow actor, Paul Walker, who was killed in a car accident on November 30th, 2013.
Speaking about his “brother”, who he affectionately calls “Pablo”, Vin explained why he named his daughter, who was born in March, Pauline.
Recounting the day his partner, Paloma Jimenez, went into labour with the baby girl, Vin said, “”I can remember just like yesterday [Paul] said to me, ‘A lot of tough guys will tell you to wait in the hallway and not to go in the delivery room’.”
Vin recals, “He said, ‘But Vin, go into that delivery room, be present and cut that umbilical cord and it will be the best day of your life.’ And so I did that and it was the best day of my life.”
“And so six months ago when I was blessed to be in that same situation, I couldn’t help but to remember Paul and his advice. So as I’m cutting the umbilical cord, I’m thinking to myself it’s all because Paul Walker told me to go into the delivery room,” said a teary Vin.
“So once it came time to sign the name, I started writing ‘Paul’ and then just added I-N-E,” said the actor.
Vin Diesel named his daughter, who was born in March, after his late friend, Paul Walker.
The actor also spoke about his own reaction following Paul’s death, which he described as unlike any other loss he’s ever experienced.
The 48-year-old opened up about what made Paul’s death so heartbreaking.
“The relationships in that franchise are so strong, and the brotherhood so real, that it transcends the experience of making a movie,” said a sombre Vin of Paul’s death.
“You go through years, going from a nobody to a somebody with a brother – and the he’s gone.”
“Somehow this is different from the other losses that I’ve had,” said Vin, “I grew up in New York City being a bouncer, and you’d lose people while you were working, but this was unlike anything I could have imagined.”
Vin had been best friends with Paul since they met on the set of the very first Fast and the Furious film in 2001.
