Fatherhood is in his future! Shaun White is looking forward to the “next chapter” of his life.
“I would love to be a dad,” the athlete, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, January 18, while promoting his CELSIUS Energy Drink partnership. “It’s just something that seems so exciting, you know? I love being around people, and I love the idea of having someone other than my own pursuits to look after.”
The professional snowboarder, who has been dating Nina Dobrev since early 2020, noted that he “definitely” wants children now that he’s watching his brother and sister enter parenthood.
“That’s what excites me is watching my siblings with their families,” the California native told Us. “Their families keep growing. Christmas is now so exciting again, all these little things. I get videos like, ‘Oh, they had a Popsicle for the first time. Look at the mess.’”
Now that White has spent time with his nieces and nephews, he is aware of how “fragile” little ones are.
“There are just so many things to learn and so many things to know. There is such a responsibility,” the Olympian said of fatherhood. “For a guy like myself that’s really poured his everything into one aspect of life, which is competing in snowboarding, I feel like over the years, I’ve gathered a more well-rounded life with other things going on. Something like that just seems like an amazing turning of the page, a new chapter. … I wanna take this on.”
Earlier this month, the skateboarder spoke to Rolling Stone about “open[ing] that door” soon.
“My brother’s got two sons, and my sister has a daughter with one on the way. That family life sounds so exciting and new and terrifying at the same time,” White told the magazine. “A whole other kind chapter in life. What would that be like? Where would I be living? All that time that gets devoted to training and physical therapy and working out — all those different things that you really put all that effort into — like, ‘Wow, what if I shifted that into more family? Into charitable things? And the company of my own?’”
While the Band Things guitarist is currently still prioritizing his career and preparing for the Olympics, he’s also drinking a lot of CELSIUS Energy Drinks. The musician called the company an “incredible brand,” gushing to Us on Tuesday about how “excited [he is] to be part of the team.”
White added, “We shot this amazing ad on Copper Mountain right after one of the Olympic qualifiers. They’ve just been so supportive.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi