LOS ANGELES, April 10 — Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis are usually a pretty private pair, but that did not stop Kutcher from openly paying tribute to his wife and kids while receiving an award recently.
Kutcher was honoured with the Robert D. Ray Pillar of Character Award in his home state of Iowa for demonstrating “good character as a role model” over the weekend and he revealed that his family had a lot to do with helping to shape who he is today.
“Because life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you. Every. Single. Time. And as long as you have love and kindness and optimism and a pursuit of something greater in your heart, you’re the lucky one.
“So this award is for you. It is for my family, it’s for all four of my parents, it’s for my wife, who kicks my a** on character every day.”
The award was in recognition for Kutcher’s work in helping Iowa schools and co-founding the Native Fund, which provides disaster relief for local residents.
Kutcher went on to praise Kunis saying: “I mean, I’m telling you, this morning, I woke up and she (Mila) kicked my a** on character.
“I thought I was awesome because I got up early and helped with the kids before she woke up and I let her sleep a little bit and then she’s like, ‘Well, now you’re gonna act tired? I do it every day.’ But it was a character moment, right? Because she’s right!”
Kutcher and Kunis are the proud parents to daughter Wyatt, two, and four-month-old Dimitri.
“But the greatest, greatest lesson in character in my life are my kids. When I had these kids, my wife and I had these kids and we got to share that amazing, amazing, amazing honour, my first response was, I wanted to call my parents and say, ‘I’m sorry, because I never knew how much you loved me’.”
Kutcher also paid tribute to his twin brother Michael: “My brother was born with cerebral palsy and it taught me that loving people isn’t a choice and that people aren’t actually all created equal.
“The Constitution lies to us. We’re not all created equal. We’re all created incredibly unequal to one another, in our capabilities and what we can do and how we think and what we see. But we all have the equal capacity to love one another, and my brother taught me that.”
“He also taught me that he had gifts that I didn’t have. Extraordinary gifts that I didn’t have, and that every time I felt sorry for him in life, I made him less. He taught me that and he gave that to me.”
