David Harbour didn’t think it was possible to love someone else more than he loves himself until he became a stepfather.

When the Stranger Things actor married British singer Lily Allen last year, he became stepdad to her two daughters Ethel, nine, and Marnie, eight – whom she shares with ex-husband Sam Cooper.

And while David never predicted that he’d have children himself, he now understands why people start families.

“I have never experienced this kind of – I was always a single guy, who has been a bachelor for a long time, I’ve been an artist, I wanted to travel the world and do my work,” he said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“And I never really wanted to have kids. And I get it now, why everybody has kids. Because it’s kind of like the meaning of life, you pass the torch to these other individuals.”

The star has also experienced a different level of love since welcoming Lily’s girls into his life.

“You love them more than you could ever love yourself, and I never thought that was possible with anyone, I love myself a lot,” the 46-year-old joked. “But it’s such a beautiful thing. My heart is just broken wide open and I have a new love I never had.”

– Cover Media