Exclusive: The beautiful advice Paul Walker gave Vin Diesel about the delivery room

EXCLUSIVE: Vin Diesel reveals to News.com.au the life changing advice his good mate Paul Walker gave him and how he was ‘in the delivery room’ when his daughter was born.

In this Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013 photo, actor Vin Diesel poses for a portrait at NBC Universal in Universal City, Calif. (Photo...

“IT’S mini-van season here at the Diesel household,” declares Vin Diesel, 47. “The celebration of life is a beautiful thing.”

The Furious 7 star is naturally overcome with joy over the latest addition to his family, his third child, Pauline, born March 16. Her mother is his longtime girlfriend, Mexican-born model, Paloma Jimenez. But Diesel continues to run the gamut of emotions due to the loss of his best friend and co-star Paul Walker, who died tragically in a car accident, in November 2013.

“I attribute the best day of my life to one person, to Paul, and that’s a big deal to me,” the tear-filled action star told news.com.au.

“When we were shooting Fast and Furious Five, we were in Puerto Rico, at the end scene on a bridge, he recalls.

“Paloma was in New York and I had to keep it close to my chest that her water broke. Paul says to me, ‘It’s no deal, no discussion, you have to go and we can film later. It’s not even a conversation, Vin. You have to be in New York right now.

“He said, ‘I am going to give you some very valuable advice. A lot of the machos will tell you, ‘Don’t go into the delivery room!’ But I am telling you, ‘Go into the delivery room! Be as present as you can, even cut the umbilical cord. It will be the best day of your life.’”

He smiles. “And I did. I went to New York and received my baby. And to this day, it has been the best day of my life.”

Evidently, Diesel is having difficulty sitting still and paces while he speaks. “So when I was in the same hospital that my daughter was born, I remembered that conversation seven years ago while I was cutting the umbilical cord. All I was thinking about was Paul. I realised, I am doing this because of some very sage advice, some loving wisdom from somebody who is in the room now with me.”

On a roll, he continues to recount the details Pauline’s arrival. “My mother was there and at the end of me doing everything, literally pulling the baby out,” he says, “I did all the work,” he jokes, under his breath. “But seriously, it was really heavy,” he assures. “My mother said to me, ‘You were amazing in the delivery room. You went in there, took charge, and made Paloma feel comfortable. I am so proud of you.’” He pauses. “And then she said, ‘Paul is proud of you. Paul was in the room with you, too.’ And so when it came to filling out the name, it just happened. He was a true brother to me and so it felt like the most natural thing I could do and so I named her Pauline.”

Baby Pauline joins big sister, Hania, who will turn 7 in April, and brother, Vincent, 4. “The father that I have become in no small way has been assisted, or enhanced, by the relationship I had with my brother Pablo (his nickname for Walker). There were tears, both for the fact that Paul will never meet her, and tears for the fact that she is such a bundle of joy.”

In Los Angeles, an array of fast and exotic cars from the film is on display at Dodger Stadium where Diesel is promoting the movie. But now that he’s a family man, Papa Diesel has toned down the risky stunts — on and off-screen.

“The truth about these stunts is that they are very dangerous. And when you have a family, you have to consider being that much more cautious because of them. You can’t be as reckless as you used to be. In fact, the only time I am in any way reckless is when I am in character, but I don’t do Evil Knievel stuff like I used to,” he says.

“I don’t even ride my motorcycles like I used to, which was at 165 miles an hour. I think with age comes some maturity and I am sure everybody can identify with that. With family comes some maturity. And we are all still a work in progress,” he smiles. “I think I would like to be around my kids for awhile. “

Does Pauline resemble her namesake in any way?

Diesel laughs. “I was looking down at this new angel, who literally five seconds after pulling her out is doing push-ups.” He grins. “I mean, literally doing push-ups. I am like, ‘She is a freak of nature.’”

Without question, Walker is equally responsible for the enormous success of the US$2.4 billion series as his co-star. He had partly shot Furious 7, and two of his lookalike brothers stood in for him to wrap the movie.

As for the future of the Furious franchise, Diesel says, “As a trademark there’s always a special tag at the end of each film, a promise or a wink to the audience that tells them these films will continue. But with Furious 7, we had to handle this very precious homage to someone we all loved and someone that the world loved, an angel. “ He pauses. “I really have to allow the world to embrace this film as it is. Something about it wouldn’t feel right if I was getting the audience amped up ready for the next chapter, but I didn’t say, ‘No I don’t want to do any more.’”

Originally published as Exclusive: The beautiful advice Paul Walker gave Vin Diesel about the delivery room