Fredrik Eklund Explains What He's Really Like as a Dad

When Fredrik Eklund decided to start a show targeted for children featuring his own twins, Freddy and Milla, the Million Dollar Listing New York agent, who splits his time between the east coast and west coast, focused on bringing his kids around to the beautiful homes he sells in the Los Angeles area — but keeping it characteristically silly. He also knew that he wanted the vibe and energy of Milla and Freddy's Adventures to match what he's like at home as a dad, while also combining his love for real estate.

"I made a decision before starting this that it has to be very natural in the sense that this has to be the exact same thing we do at home," he told The Daily Dish in a recent phone interview. "I can’t have them perform or try to, ‘cause they’re my children, or god forbid if they didn’t wanna do this and we’re on our way to a new property and I’m bringing them, if I didn’t feel the true excitement from them or that didn’t translate into, you know, the show itself, this whole thing wouldn’t work."

The series premiered on YouTube last month, and features his family as well as their Bel-Air home. So yes, the show, Fredrik noted, does give a sense of what things are like at home for him as a dad to his two young kids.

"So, it is what we do at home. It’s totally what we do at home and that’s why we started with the first one at home, and my way of bringing them out is a little bit different than [my husband] Derek [Kaplan]. It’s a little bit more strict, and I’m just, [I] call myself like that: a magician. Two things happen when I’m with them. One, I become a 3-year-old myself very much so and that’s why I think it’s funny. I become a 3-year-old in these properties that are very expensive and [in] a crazy real estate world. And two, I wanna really create this magic world for them. There’s one thing where you see right in front of you, and there’s another layer that you can see if you’re imagining things and sort of the fairytale world I’m building for them in these very high-pressure sales environment that I live in," he explained. "Even this is my escape [from] the crazy, the real estate with kids."

He said, "Each time we film, they open up more and more and more and they’re asking about when we’re gonna film the next one and perhaps, most importantly, they wanna watch back sort of the experience and just sit and smile. So, that’s pretty cute."

Fredrik knows that the worlds of business and real estate are very focused on luxury and material things; however, he wanted to show his kids what he does for a living and get them acquainted with that side of his life in a way that felt age appropriate and focused on fun.

"I don’t wanna bring money into their world. I don’t wanna bring in work into their world yet. However, I do think my parents worked when I was young, very small; and I always felt like that was important. I felt like they were important people," he said, noting that it instilled important values for him to be exposed to that side of his parents while he was growing up in Sweden. "That kind of made me [have] a really good work ethic, I guess is what I’m saying, later in life."

He added about working with his kids on the weekly series, "So, it’s gradually something I’m trying to introduce to them, but making it playful and that, Dada does go to work, you know? Dada works really hard and I’m sad I can’t be with them all the time, so now they know and I think there’s a really beautiful, [and there's a] comfortableness in that that they know, when I’m not with them, and when I go work, this is what I do."