Vin Diesel revealed that Paul Walker inspired him to be a father as he consistently gave fatherly advice throughout the years. In fact, Diesel decided to name his daughter Pauline as a ‘thank you’ to the late Furious 7 co-star.

He said during the Reach Out Worldwide charity event: “He must’ve been God-sent because he put me on the right path. He set me up. And when we did the first ‘Fast & Furious‘, I was already 30 years old or something, but he was a father.”

Walker would occasionally talk Diesel into parenthood, assuring him that being a dad was not “a scary thing” to experience.

He continued: “When we were in the cars in between takes, he would tell me, ‘Hey, Vin, it’s not a scary thing to become a father’ [and] give me all the good advice. Next thing I know, I am a dad … [He] is why I named my daughter Pauline because of the credit that Paul Walker deserves in my personal life.”

The 49-year-old actor also says that Walker encouraged him to visit the hospital for the birth of his now-18-month-old daughter.

“Paul was very instrumental in my segue into fatherhood. He was the one that told me to go to the hospital.

He’s the one that told me to cut the umbilical cord. He told me to cut the umbilical cord! [He was] the only person, in California, that knew I was about to have a child.”

Diesel – who has two additional children with partner Paloma Jimenez – had previously stated that the late actor essentially guided him into fatherhood.

He added: “[Paul] went into fatherhood a lot earlier than I did. He took on that role of kind of being the guide into fatherhood for me. It’s kind of beautiful.”