The Parent Trap

With Cher and Sonny

The genetic part is absolutely true. My being more logical, being able to negotiate and educate, that is very similar to my dad. At his funeral, I had people that I had never met before saying to me that they found it almost ghostly how similar we were. I got my rebellious streak from my mom. In me it's more controlled or subtle. Seeing both my parents achieve great things, having the guts to go for things: that was something I learned from them. When I was young, my mom started acting. That was a huge risk for her, and she was successful. It was the same with my dad and politics.

MICHAEL JORDAN

With his mom, Deloris

I know that no one has had a greater impact on me than my parents. Their ethics and morals are my ethics and morals. It's funny, but you don't realize how much they mold until you get older and begin to see them in the things that you do. When I am talking to my kids, I often say things my father said to me or my brothers and sisters, and it hits me again that your parents consciously and unconsciously affect your every move. My father taught me responsibility and so many other things that have helped me through a lot.

The peer pressure is a whole different thing today, and parents seem to have less control. The environment seems to shape kids more than family. I think that's the difference in a Grant Hill or a Kobe Bryant. Their families, and their fathers, had a great influence on their lives.