The worried ‘Inkheart’ star - who raises two kids with his wife, actress Jennifer Connelly - wanted to make sure his step-son Kai, 11, could defend himself at school.
He said: “You get taught how to be bullied, essentially, in England. I was so worried about it, I tried to teach my eldest how to punch the day before he went to school.”
However, Paul’s American actress wife wasn’t so thrilled with her husband’s pre-school training.
The 37-year-old actor told US TV talk show host Conan O’Brien: “My wife caught me, and she said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m teaching him how to punch.’ ‘Why?’ Because he’s going to school, obviously!’ ”
Despite his step-father’s best efforts, Kai - Jennifer’s son from a previous relationship - was still targeted at school.
Paul explained: “The next day I stopped outside the school in some weird stakeout. I said, ‘Point him out! Which one did it to you?’ He said, ‘That one.’ But there were like a million kids out front. I said, ‘Which one? The one with the long hair?’ He goes, ‘That one…the one with the cello.’ I said, ‘The one with the cello? You’re fine. Get out of the car.’ ”
Jennifer and Paul also have a five-year-old son Stellan.
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