David Duchovny Opens Up About Family’s Move to NYC

Snezana Dorbrijevic

Actors David Duchovny and Téa Leoni have moved to the Big Apple, much to the delight of their children Madelaine West, 10, and Kyd Miller, 7. “They love it, they love it,” David, 49, said during a recent turn as co-host on Live with Regis and Kelly. “We’re back!”

The reunited couple are former New York City natives themselves and both kids have been enrolled at their parents’ former schools, with West at The Brearley School and Miller at Collegiate.

“It’s almost 75 years since I went there,” David joked of the latter. “It’s all changed, but there are some elements that are the same.” Admitting that it’s “freaky” to find himself waiting for Miller to finish up class, David notes,

“You don’t sit in a hallway in a school unless you’ve done something wrong. So I’m always sitting in the hallway thinking, ‘What have I done?’ Or maybe the statute of limitations for what I did in high school isn’t over, and [Miller is] going to come say, ‘Dad, you’ve got some detentions to fulfill.’”

Wast and Miller are making the “big adjustment” with ease, right down to looking the part of city slickers! “Now they want cell phones,” David shared. “They have no one to call, but hey…They just want the thing; It seems adult to them, so they want the gadget.”

David and Téa marked twelve years of marriage in May. His series, Californication, premieres tonight at 10 p.m. on Showtime.

Source: Live with Regis and Kelly

– Missy

Comments

with West at The Brearley School and Miller at Collegiate.

Why does the story keep calling them by their middle names?

- Meagan on September 27th, 2009

and how come they don’t go to the same school? Are they boy/girl only schools? It must take ages to go to two different school every day.

- Georgina on September 27th, 2009

Georgina, I just had a look at their website and yes they are both single-sex schools. I don’t understand why you’d want your children to go to different schools though, must be so much hassle!

- Rachel-Jane on September 27th, 2009

I think it was because there was the option for them to go to Tea’s school and David’s school. I think that would be pretty neat too.

Meagan it’s a tradition in Tea’s family to call them by their middle names. David said they named him Kyd but knew they’d call him Miller anyways. I’m sure it was the same way for West.

- Andrea_momof2 on September 27th, 2009

Thanks Rachel-Jane, and yes I was thinking the exact same thing!

- Georgina on September 27th, 2009

The kids have always gone by their middle namaes. Téa’s first name is actually Elizabeth, I don’t understand this particular tradition but it seems to work for them.

- Jeanne on September 27th, 2009

Wow- the two best private schools in NYC- near impossible to get into- very lucky kids! What a wonderful oppurtunity for a wonderful education

- Skylar on September 27th, 2009

How cool is that. To go back to school in the same halls your parents walked. That is cool.
Benigna Marko

- Benigna Marko on September 27th, 2009

The kids getting into those exclusive schools doesn’t surprise me; I’m sure they’re smart, and their parents’ money and celebrity certainly couldn’t hurt.

When David got into Collegiate, he got in solely on his grades — his family was very far from rich. He’s very, very smart.

- SAR on September 27th, 2009

Wow I just looked into those schools. $34,000 a year just for The Brearley School. My daughter is in 11th grade and I’m struggling to pay $10,000 a year with an additional $4,500 for her brother who just entered 9th grade at her school (discounted at least). I will pay for their High School but they are on their own for college. Sports scholarships for one it looks like and academics we hope for the other. Otherwise it’s the American way…..Loans!

- mary on September 27th, 2009

SAR – I’m curious, if his family was far from rich how could they afford the school fees? Or is it different if you get in for your grades? Do you have to pay only if you’re not talented at something (good grades, sports, art etc)? I hope I don’t sound harsh or anything it’s just that I’ve studied in two different countries and it didn’t happen this way in either so I’m curious.

- Alice on September 27th, 2009

Alice – many schools of that nature offer scholarships to bright or talented students who would otherwise not be able attend.

- Lucy on September 27th, 2009

Alice: Most private schools have a fund for scholarship students, they allot a certain amount each year for that. David Duchovny is fairly intellectual and academic, I think he was going for his PhD at one of the Ivy League Schools before getting into acting…maybe his family paid partial tuition. Isn’t Collegiate the place where David and Tea got married?

- SY on September 27th, 2009

Thank you for your answers. So it’s actually just a few selected students who are granted a scholarship.

- Alice on September 27th, 2009

There isn’t much of a distance between the 2 schools at all. 10-15 mins driving with “normal” NY traffic!

- Mel on September 27th, 2009

Alice, what I meant is that David got into Collegiate via a scholarship, due to his academic gifts. That was the same way he got into Princeton, although by then the scholarship was athletic as well as academic — he was a star player on Collegiate’s basketball team.

My parents both came from families that were far from rich, and they both got into Stanford — which was where they met each other — on scholarships. My father’s was both academic and athletic, my mother’s was wholly academic.

- SAR on September 27th, 2009

I don’t understand naming your kids something you have no intention of calling them, but to each his own I guess.

- Tigmode on September 27th, 2009

Their kids go by their middle names because it’s a tradition. Tea goes by her middle name so that is why.

- Hey on September 27th, 2009

Tigmode, most people I know have three names, a first name middle name and last name, but they usually just get called by one of those names for short. Really, I think you’re being a little ridiculous. David and Tea’s kids also have a first middle and last name and they do go by one of those names.

- Lynn on September 28th, 2009

acutally – when david went to school (over 20 years ago) the school fees were more modest. that’s the same for many schools.

- Susan on September 28th, 2009

Curiostity is one thing, but why the judgemental tone of some people?? Come on, it’s no-one’s business but the family can clearly afford the fees, in part or in full, who knows, but they can otherwise their children wouldn’t be able to go there. It’s a fee paying school. I think it’s lovely and speaks volumes about David and Tea and where their values lay that they moved back to the native New York – and enrolled their children in the schools they themselves attended. In David’s case, his mother was a teacher at his school, his sister certainly used to be, and he and Tea got married in the school grounds. They’re obviously a family-orientated family and I can’t understand why they’re isn’t support for that!!

- Marie on September 28th, 2009

Whoops, sorry for typos – was typing with one hand! I used to work in a fee-paying selective school, whereby you get in on academic merit in the first instance, and it wouldn’t surprise me if these schools are selective. David’s a very intellectually smart person and he got in on a busary which tends usually to mean a school that’s academic and helps out those who can’t afford to be supported in their studies there. Don’t know for sure, but it’s a possibility.

- Marie on September 28th, 2009

Keep in mind most schools also have legacy programs. These programs allow/welcome kids whose parents also attended the school.

- Mel on September 28th, 2009

I was thinking the same thing, Mel. Money and celebrity mean nothing with getting your kids into schools like these. Being an “old boy”, on the other hand, is the golden ticket.

- Sadie on September 29th, 2009

LOL, I knew immediately that they were single sex schools even though I’ve never heard of them. I guess I did learn something watching Gossip Girl!

- stephanie on September 29th, 2009