Nicolas Cage Admits Having 3 Children with 3 Women Is 'Not What I Had Originally Thought Would Happen'

"Being a dad — to me, it’s not an art form, it’s . . . How do I put this? It’s like breathing," Cage said in a new interview

Nicolas Cage is opening up about his relationship with his three children.

In a conversation with The New Yorker, the Academy Award winner, 60, spoke candidly about daughter August Francesca, 22 months, and sons Kal-El, 18, and Weston, 33.

“They’re all different experiences. Each one has a different mother,” he said.

“It’s not what I had originally thought would happen when I fell in love or got married — that I would have three different children with three different moms — but nonetheless that’s what’s happened,” Cage continued. "So every child is different. There’s a different kind of level of attention.”

He shares Weston with ex Christina Fulton, Kal-El with his third wife, Alice Kim, and August with his fifth wife, Riko Shibata.

Related: Nicolas Cage's 3 Kids: All About Weston, Kal-El and August

Cage added that he worries about his “very adorable” daughter, saying, “So this is all different levels of worry and protection and taking it into overdrive."

He also remarked how being a father is intrinsic to his personhood.

"Being a dad — to me, it’s not an art form, it’s . . . How do I put this? It’s like breathing. Everything is about her. You know, I can make a movie or not make a movie. I can’t stop being a dad. With her, it’s life. It’s my survival," he explained.

The Longlegs star welcomed eldest son, Weston, with girlfriend Fulton in December 1990.

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In a 2015 interview with PEOPLE, Cage called Weston a “total artist."

"He can do things I dream about doing … compose music, sing, act, sculpt and cook and now he is a loving father," he said. "To see my son with my grandson is as close to a sense of blissful completion I ever had."

Weston made Cage a grandfather in 2014, when he welcomed his son Lucian with ex-wife Danielle Cage. Weston and Danielle also welcomed son Sorin in 2016. In 2018, Weston wed Hila Cage Coppola and the couple welcomed twin girls in 2020.

Related: All About Nicolas Cage's 5 Marriages, from Patricia Arquette to Lisa Marie Presley

Cage and Kim welcomed Kal-El Coppola in October 2005. The couple met in 2004 and were together for 12 years until they separated in January 2016.

In September 2022, Cage and Shibata welcomed their first child together.

"My boys are all grown up, and I miss going to the toy store. I miss singing lullabies and rocking in the rocking chair," he told Access Hollywood in April 2022. "I'm looking forward to getting back to that."

Cage was also married to Patricia Arquette from 1995 to 2001. He then married the late Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, in August 2002 and filed for divorce three months later.

After his marriage to Kim, Cage tied the knot to the makeup artist Erika Koike in March 2019 in Las Vegas after a year of dating. The two divorced in June 2019.

Cage's next film, Longlegs, opens on July 12.

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