Will Reeve Shares the Family Dinner Rule Established After Christopher Reeve’s Accident

Christopher Reeve, forever remembered as the iconic Superman, faced his greatest challenge not on-screen but in real life after a tragic 1995 accident left him paralyzed. Despite the immense adversity, his family’s unwavering strength became a testament to resilience, love, and togetherness. Recently, Reeve’s children—Will, Alexandra, and Matthew—shared cherished memories of their late father and mother, Dana Reeve, while promoting the documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. One particular anecdote that stood out was the strict dinner table rule that shaped their family’s resilience during a time of hardship.

On Good Morning America, Will opened up about how their family continued to have dinner together every night, even after his father returned from the hospital following his accident. Will shared, "Whether it was good news, bad news, scary news, dinner was family time. 'How was school?' They sat at the head next to each other. My mom would feed him and herself. We had friends dropping by. It was a very happy, robust, loud — everything you would want from a family dinner. That was every night, and the one thing you weren't allowed to talk about was specific medical stuff. It could be anything else," as reported by People magazine.

Will fondly recalled how his mother, Dana would always sing. He recalled, "Always. While she's making me my after-school snack, while she's taking me up to bed, she's always singing. And I, being 10, 11 years old, would be like, 'Mom, stop, so annoying, I'm trying to watch the show. Why are you always singing? My friends' moms don't sing all the time,' just being 11, right? And she would be like, 'Oh, okay, sorry,'..."

As per ABC News, the documentary offers a powerful glimpse into Christopher’s life, both before and after his accident. During the documentary’s premiere, his children spoke about how their father’s determination shaped them into who they are today. Will reflected on his father’s dual legacy and remarked, "Superman to me is my father, Christopher Reeve. But not because he played the role; that's a coincidence. My dad was Superman to me because he was my dad, much like many children think of their dad as Superman because it's dad. And something that our dad definitely instilled in us was that Superman was a role, it was a job that then took on such a larger-than-life connotation and meaning…"

Alexandra added that their father’s intense dedication and focus molded each of them. She explained how he instilled the significance of doing meaningful work and giving back to the world. She said, "My dad was an incredibly intense person…And so that dedication and focus that your work needs to be about more than you, it needs to be about more than yourself and how do you give back to the world that you're in, that's shaped each of us today."