Shemar Moore is embracing his role as a father, and carrying on his late mother’s legacy through celebrating her memory with his little girl.
Moore spoke with ET’s Cassie DiLaura on Wednesday — while promoting the seventh and final season of his cop drama S.W.A.T. — and the 53-year-old star opened up about his 1-year-old daughter, Frankie.
The proud papa was all smiles as he reflected upon becoming a father, and watching his little girl grow up, explaining that she’s “the last piece of my puzzle.”
Moore and girlfriend Jesiree Dizon welcomed their little girl in January 2023, and just celebrated her first birthday with a slew of adorable snapshots.
Moore explained that welcoming a child has changed a lot about his perspective and his priorities, sharing, “I get the opportunity to be daddy. And now it’s not about me anymore. Now everything I do is for her… I got the most amazing, beautiful little lady… [and] she’s a happy lady.”
While she’s only 1, Moore says that Frankie already “loves the mirror.”
“You can’t be in this family unless you’re vain,” Moore joked. “She gets in front of that mirror and she talks to herself like it’s a whole other person. It’s just so fun to watch her evolve.”
Frankie’s first birthday came just a few weeks ahead of the fourth anniversary of the death of Moore’s mother, Marylin Joan Wilson-Moore, who died on Feb. 8, 2020, at the age of 76. According to the actor, he sees a lot of his late mom in his daughter — especially, “In her personality.”
“This was my mother’s dream,” Moore said of him becoming a father. “She was proud of me for my success and the things that I’ve done, but she always said to me, ‘The best of you will come out when you have a child.’ So now, I get that opportunity.”
“I’m sorry that they don’t co-exist, but I know she’s up there, proud,” Moore added.
The adoring father said he’s also making sure Frankie knows as much about her grandmother as possible, and that he’ll “show her things or I’ll read cards that my mother [sent]” and tell her stories about his mom.
One tribute to his mom is literally set in stone, and exists in the yard of his home.
“I have a stone in my backyard… January 26, 2020, was the day that I signed my offer for my home, and it was the one and only time that my mother came to the house,” he shared. “And so she came cause I wanted to celebrate signing the offer.”
According to Moore, while guests were celebrating the occasion and touring the new house, his mom called him into the back yard to have a conversation in private.
“I said, ‘What’s up?’ And she said, ‘You made your [last] house really beautiful, and it was good to you for 13 years, but I was never all the way in love with it,'” Moore recalled. “She goes, ‘But Shemar, this is my son’s home.’ And then 13 days later she passed away.”
“So I have a little stone in the backyard, in that spot, that says, ‘This is my son’s home, mom.’ With butterflies engraved on it,” he explained. “So as far as keeping her energy alive, her spirit alive, those are the things that Frankie will come to know…. stories from me, stories from other people who knew and loved my mother. So she’ll get the essence of her.”
Fans can check out the seventh and final season of Moore’s police drama, S.W.A.T., when it debuts Feb. 16 on CBS.
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