The Hilarious Reason Neil Patrick Harris Says He's Now "Free"

After months of remote school for his kids, Neil Patrick Harris is relishing in this big change for his family's routine amid the coronavirus pandemic. Read on for what the actor told Ellen DeGeneres.

By Samantha Schnurr Feb 18, 2021 4:19 PMTags
Watch: North West & More Celeb Kids Takeover Instagram

When it comes to the coronavirus pandemic, celebrities are relishing their time off from parent duty, too. 

Neil Patrick Harris is one of them. During a virtual appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' daytime talk show on Dec. 18, the It's a Sin star shared how he and his family have fared during this unprecedented time. "We've been doing remote school since March," the father of 10-year-old twins Harper and Gideon told DeGeneres. But, that recently came to an end for Harris and his husband David Burtka when the kids headed off to school in person.

"The school opened up, so as of last week, they were able to be—with all the protocols, the masks and six feet apart and getting tested all the time—but they're in actual school," he explained. "So Ellen, I'm free!"

While the pandemic has not been easy on anyone, Harris and his family experienced coronavirus firsthand when they all contracted it at the beginning of the pandemic in the United States. As Harris recalled during the interview, he had traveled to San Francisco to shoot The Matrix 4 at the beginning of 2020 and then started feeling "not so well" at the end of March. 

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While in lockdown, he lost his sense of taste and smell. "I thought, 'Oh no, not only do I have COVID,'" he recalled, "'but we've all been in the same room together.'" As a result, he, Burtka, the twins and a friend who had been living with them all got the virus, but fortunately no one had to be hospitalized. "It was early on, so it was a little bit tenuous and scary," he recalled. "There weren't a lot of examples of anything."

Now, nearly a year later, the actor isn't the only celebrity parent savoring some time off from their kids. During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Mila Kunis also recalled taking time away with husband Ashton Kutcher to shoot their Super Bowl commercial for Cheetos at the "peak of the pandemic."

"It made no sense logically," the mom of two pointed out. Still, she looked on the bright side of the unusual circumstances. "I got two days off from my kids," she said before quipping, "I'm a horrible mom."