Seal Shares What It’s Like Raising His 4 Kids: ‘You End Up, If You’re Lucky by the Grace of God, with Friends’ (Exclusive)

Seal’s kids are all grown up!

The 61-year-old musician shares four children with ex-wife Heidi Klum — daughters Lou, 15, and Leni, 20, and sons Henry, 19, and Johan, 18 — but, according to him, they’re not exactly kids anymore.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE at Media Row in New Orleans ahead of the 2025 Super Bowl, the “Kiss from a Rose” singer opened up about what it’s like as a father to four now that his kids (save for the youngest, Lou) are adults.

“They’re not kids anymore. They’re adults with opinions and views on life and different philosophies,” the star told PEOPLE on Friday, Jan. 7 while chatting alongside NFL star Deebo Samuel (who is also a dad).

“It’s great because you start out raising kids, and then you end up, if you’re lucky by the grace of God, with friends that you can confide in,” Seal continued. “And you get to respect their opinions and their views on life, even if you don’t necessarily agree with them. And you learn.”

Being a father to adult children, he told PEOPLE, has “been amazing.” When your children grow up, Seal explained, “You end up with these great friends now that you can have real conversations with, and you get to learn from your mistakes as a parent.”

“And as they get older, you see that they understand that because they become adults themselves, and they realize how difficult it is to be a parent,” he continued. “In fact, it’s the hardest job in the world in that you can’t make mistakes, but the reality is you do make mistakes.”

“They don’t care about those, they care about if you tried, if you tried your best as a parent,” the musician added. “And luckily — I can’t call them kids — the sons and daughters that I’ve raised, they’ve seen that I tried my best.”

Added Seal: “I wasn’t always perfect, but I tried my best.”

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Though both Klum, 51, and Seal are quite private about their children, the Project Runway host recently shared a rare post about Henry as he followed in her modeling footsteps. The proud mom posted a video of his runway debut at Paris Fashion Week last month on Instagram, and wrote that she is “so proud of” the 19-year-old in the accompanying caption.

Last fall, Seal also shared a rare parenting post, though his was dedicated to Leni. Alongside a snap of the father-daughter duo, he wrote, “In NY with the young woman who changed my life for the better 19 yrs ago. Thank you Leni for making me a better person 🥹🥹🥹,” before signing off the message with: “Love you, papa.”

Leni, meanwhile, reciprocated the love, commenting, “So cute! I love you papa ❤️.”