Adam Driver Explains Why He Kept His Child a Secret for Two Years

Adam Driver has confirmed that he’s a father.

According to a new profile in the New Yorker, Driver and his wife, Joanne Tucker, became parents about two-and-a-half years ago. While rumors emerged last fall that the pair had had a son—the news hit Page Six—Driver hadn’t publicly confirmed the fact until now. A veteran of the Marines, the actor called the attempt to keep the baby secret “a military operation.”

“My job is to be a spy—to be in public and live life and have experience,” Driver told the writer Michael Shulman. “But, when you feel like you’re the focus, it’s really hard to do that.”

The profile is filled with fascinating anecdotes about the actor. One example: As a teen growing up in a blue-collar, religious family in Indiana, Driver passed the time with his friends by setting things on fire. There’s also an account of his highly disciplined physical routine, mostly born of his time as a soldier (he was honorably discharged before deploying to Iraq after a mountain-biking accident). While studying at Julliard, Driver would run five miles to school each day, do hundreds of push-ups in the hallways, and eat six eggs (minus four yolks) for breakfast and an entire roast chicken for lunch.

Driver enlisted in the Marines following a brief failed attempt at becoming an actor in Los Angeles after high school. The challenge appealed to him. “They kind of got me with their whole ‘We don’t give you signing bonuses. We’re the hardest branch of the armed forces. You’re not going to get all this cushy shit that the Navy or the Army gives you. It’s going to be hard,’ ” he said. Apparently he made the decision to join up so quickly that the recruiter asked if he was “running from the law.”

Shulman writes that after facing a life-threatening accident in basic training, Driver decided that there were two things he wanted to do in life: smoke cigarettes and be an actor. He’s since quit smoking, but acting is going rather well. When Shulman asked Spike Lee, who directed Driver in an Oscar-nominated performance in BlacKkKlansman, why directors were “drawn” to the actor, Lee said, “There’s a very simple answer: game respects game.”

Related: Adam Driver Was Totally Fine With That Shirtless Scene in The Last Jedi