Justin Hartley is facing every parent's worst nightmare: a teenager behind the wheel.
During a Feb. 9 interview with Late Night with Seth Meyers, the This Is Us star updated his fans on how the driving lessons are going with his 16-year-old daughter Isabella Justice Hartley. Spoiler alert: He immediately called the experience "terrifying."
"It's the worst thing in the world. There's gotta be a better way to do this," he 44-year-old dad said. "But you put them behind the wheel, take them around the street and you keep expanding and we're kind o at the point where we're on the freeway and stuff."
While the entire ordeal is nerve-wracking for the TV star, he recalled getting a bit too comfortable with the new driver behind the wheel which led into a potential accident.
"The other day I take her out and I'm doing the father-daughter thing. I'm tryna teach her how to fill up the tank with gas and all this kind of stuff, thinking, maybe change a tire in a couple weeks," he recalled. "We fill up the tank and we're getting comfortable. And I go into the gas station and I have a sweet tooth so I just stock up on gummy bears."
The story continued, "I'm in the car, she's driving, she's doing great and I'm in the passenger seat. I'm kind of feeling loose and I open up the gummy bears and as I'm eating them—I'm shoving them in my mouth like a child—and I look up and we are cruising through a four-way—a red light! Just reckless!"
With a laugh, Justin noted, "She just could not have cared less." He then had the teen pull over and told her calmly, "That could have been my last gummy bear. You have to be more careful."
Host Seth Meyers made a fair point with, "I do think it takes away the edge of authority when you're mowing down a bag of gummy bears as an adult man."
Following the terrifying car ride, Justin relaxed in his hot tub with girlfriend Sofia Pernas at 3 a.m., celebrating his pending birthday, but was accidentally locked outside by his daughter. When Isabella finally opened the door, she asked, "Why are you here?"
Justin explained jokingly, "It dawned on me, what she meant was, ‘I can't believe you're still here.' And I was replaying the events of the car, locking me out in the rain on my birthday. My daughter—and she's 16—she's trying to kill me. And now I'm going to sleep with one eye open."
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)