Patrick Dempsey makes rare comment about his 'opinionated' 3 children — watch

Patrick Dempsey may be an acclaimed and beloved actor, but at home he's just 'Dad' and he's not immune to the harsh critics that children can be. The Grey's Anatomy actor is father to twin sons Darby and Sullivan and daughter Talula, and he told Jenna Bush and Sheinelle Jones on The Today Show that they are " very good" at giving him advice.

When Jenna asked if his children read his scripts, including his new Fox thriller Memory Of A Killer which they "loved", he said: "My daughter is very good at that and my sons as well. They are very straightforward when it comes to their opinion." Watch the moment above.

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The actor and his wife Jillian Dempsey first became parents in 2002 with the arrival of their daughter Talula, who turns 23 in February, and his 18-year-old twin boys, Darby and Sullivan, who turn 19 in early February.

Patrick met Jillian when he visited her Hollywood salon in the 1990s and they wed in 2000. 

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But in January 2015 after 15 years of marriage, Jillian filed for divorce due to irreconcilable differences. The couple reconciled later that year, choosing to work on their marriage and prioritize their family. 

They both engaged in couple's therapy, and Patrick stepped back from Grey's Anatomy and scaled back on his car racing schedule.

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It was a decision made by the pair nealy 20 years after the end of Patrick's first marriage to Rochelle Parker, who was also an acting coach and manager., which he called a "Freudian nightmare".

Patrick and Rochelle — who became better known as Rocky Parker — met while working on a play together in 1984 where she played his aunt; he was 18,  and she was 44, and they tied the knot in August 1987 after three years of dating.

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At the time, Patrick was 21 and Rocky was 47, and the couple kept their marriage a secret for two years due to their three-decade age gap, and the professional conflict of her being his manager.

After seven years of marriage, Patrick and Rocky divorced in 1994, and although Partrick rarely discussed those years, he did tell ABC's Barbara Walters that it was a "Freudian nightmare that is public knowledge."

"I think I needed a mother," he admitted. "There were a lot of negative things that I'm still undoing from it. She had a son one year older than me."