Foster is raising his 23-month son, Rennie, at 73 with his wife Katharine McPhee and he now has the luxury of choosing to spend time with him.
David Foster asked life to be kind in his song, Prayer and his prayers have been answered. Foster, 73, welcomed son Rennie, 23 months, in 2021 with wife Katharine McPhee, 38, having already raised six adult daughters from previous relationships—Allison, 52, Amy, 49, Sara, 41, Erin, 40, and Jordan, 36. "I had all daughters until my son and I love all my daughters immeasurably, but having a son is a little bit different," Foster told PEOPLE.
The musician is also coming to terms with being a parent in his later life, "At this point in my life, it's different again," says Foster at the Music Center in Los Angeles during an event to honor Jerry Moss, reported ET Canada. "Not better or worse, just different. I still work, I'm still gone a lot, but maybe the time is a little more precious to me because I got more runway behind me than I have ahead of me now."
Foster added it requires "patience" to be the father of a toddler at 73, a skill he admits he did not have when he was raising his five daughters. "I was not patient when I was young," he said. "I was arrogant and just on the move." When Foster and his wife, McPhee first announced the pregnancy, it was met with mixed reactions, given their age gap. He is aware of the "naysayers" who questioned their decision, he says, adding that it's "a valid question," but he has his own perspective on it.
"I think that I can offer one thing to Rennie even though I won't be around when he's 50 or 40 even, or 30 maybe," explains Foster. "I think I can offer him wisdom from my 72 years on the planet. And maybe that's not a bad trade-off. I hope so," he added. Foster is never shy about expressing his joy about becoming a father at this stage of his life, "It's just great being a dad. It's too cliché to say 'Now I have more time,' but I do, I have more time," he told PEOPLE ahead of his sold-out Las Vegas show last year.
It was "not something" he foresaw happening in his 70s, but Foster has no regrets. "I've loved every single day," he told PEOPLE in October 2022. He further said, "It's the standard thing of like, 'Oh, well you were so young when you had your children and you were working day and night, you never saw them.' And there is some truth to that, sadly, for my [older] kids. I was just working a lot. Even though I'm working a lot now, I'll cancel anything just to hang with him. It's just different."
Foster met McPhee on American Idol in 2006, where he was her guest mentor. They soon became friends and Foster played the piano at McPhee's first wedding and both were later seen attending events together throughout 2016 and 2017. The couple made their relationship official at the Met Gala in 2018 by appearing on the red carpet together and were engaged just a few months later. They said their vows in London in 2019.
References:
https://people.com/parents/david-foster-says-a-little-bit-different-raising-toddler-73/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo By Ian Tuttle
