Kevin Hart mourned the death of his father this week in a series of Instagram posts dedicated to “one of the realest & rawest to ever do it.”
On Wednesday, the actor and comedian shared several sweet photos of his dad, Henry Witherspoon, enjoying quality time with his children and grandchildren — relaxing at home, hiking through the forest, zip-lining through the jungle, lounging by the pool and posing for family portraits.
“Love you dad,” Hart captioned the slideshow on Instagram. “Gone but never forgotten….Give mom a hug for me….y’all did good man. Thank you for everything….I’m a better father because of you … We will all make you proud….”
In a follow-up post, the “Jumanji” star shared a picture of him and his dad with the caption, “RIP spoon.”
Under Hart’s Instagram tributes, several of his Hollywood peers commented with words of support and offered their condolences. Among the well-wishers were actor Dwayne Johnson, comedian Hasan Minhaj, comedian Chelsea Handler, rapper Ludacris, actor Cedric the Entertainer and comedian Wanda Sykes.
“Sorry Kev,” Sykes wrote. “Sending you and your family lots of love.”
“Blessings bro,” Minhaj wrote. “Love to you and the fam.”
“Oh, sorry, Kev,” Handler wrote. “He wouldn’t have left you before he knew you were good.”
While promoting his memoir on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” in 2017, Hart opened up about his repaired relationship with his father, who he said made “decisions to do drugs” and was “in and out of jail” during his childhood.
“I think I’m the best dad walking this earth,” Hart told Colbert. “But I know why I am the way that I am. My dad has a lot to do with that. The mistakes that my dad made … because of that I now know what being present means. I know what that can do. I know the effect that it’ll have on your child coming up.
“I was strong enough to deal with it coming up because I have a different attitude. I’m a positive guy. … And because of that my relationship with my dad is amazing now, and my dad understands how I feel and how I look at things, and now my dad is focusing on being the best grandparent.”