Paul Newman’s youngest daughter opens up on actor’s legacy

Clea Newman, the youngest daughter of Paul Newman, has spoken about why she has no plans to ever step back from SeriousFun Children’s Network, the free camp legacy organisation for seriously ill children that her father founded in 1988, as the charity opens its first UK location.

Newman recalled her first experience volunteering with the organisation, then still built around a single Connecticut camp. 

He told The Hollywood Reporter: “My dad said, ‘Why don’t you go up and volunteer as a counselor?’ I never really babysat much. I was a little nervous about it.” 

She has since worked across nearly every level of the organisation, serving as a volunteer, staff member and development officer before joining its board of directors, a post she held until 2012, when she transitioned into her current role as ambassador.

Reflecting on stepping into her father’s shoes, Newman was candid about the pressure that comes with the role. 

“I kind of always feel like a sloppy second to him,” she said. 

“He really just had this guiding light. But I really feel like, over all these years, I’ve incorporated that guiding light and vision into who I am. And I can’t imagine not being involved.” 

Addressing the inevitable question of retirement, she added: “My husband jokes with me all the time. He’s like, ‘Are you ever going to retire?’ And I keep thinking, ‘Why would I do that?'”

Newman, whose father died from lung cancer in 2008 at age 83, said she believes he would be amazed at how far the organisation has grown since he first set it up after witnessing children receiving cancer treatment alongside adults in hospital, with no space to simply be kids. 

SeriousFun, funded in part by profits from Paul Newman’s Newman’s Own food company, now operates dozens of camps and partnership programmes across more than 50 countries, having served well over a million children and family members free of charge.