Ashton Kutcher revealed the smart family decision he made when he got married to Mila Kunis in 2015. The couple share two kids together, Wyatt Isabelle, 6, and Dimitri Portwood, 4.
Before having children, Kutcher and Kunis dated for three years. In 2012, before things turned serious for the couple, the actor bought an expensive ticket for a future space flight with Virgin Galactic.
The space flight owned by billionaire and Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson successfully launched in early July 2021, and Kutcher revealed that he gave up his slot for the next flight a long time ago. The actor said that his wife convinced him to sell back the ticket to Branson's company as he needed to make a "smart family decision."
Kutcher said that Kunis convinced him it wasn't a good idea to be "heading into space" when they have two young kids. However, he's not entirely abandoning the opportunity, adding that he will still go to space "at some point" in his life.
The 500th Customer
The actor made headlines in 2012 as the 500th person to buy a Virgin Galactic ticket worth $200,000. Branson said that he congratulated the actor, who expressed he's looking forward to the unique experience.
At that time, Kutcher has been raking big on television as the star of the highly-rated comedy series "Two and a Half Men," with a net worth of $140 million. He also had a steady social media presence on Twitter before the "influencers" era and appealed to many young people because of his MTV show, "Punk'd." He was newly divorced from his high-profile May-December relationship with his first wife, Demi Moore.
Today, the space flight ticket cost has jumped up to $250,000, with the company aiming to launch 400 flights every year beginning 2022. According to reports, other big names in Hollywood bought tickets years ago as well, such as Angeline Jolie, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber.
Focusing on Tech Investments
Meanwhile, the celebrity dad-of-two is also a lucrative tech investor of start-up companies like Airbnb, Uber, and Robinhood through his company, Sound Ventures. In an interview with CNet, Kutcher, one of the earliest celebrity adopters of social media, shared that having a dislike button will make platforms like Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram "less volatile" for disagreements.
"If we just gave people a very simple, frictionless way to say, 'I disagree with this,' you would probably reduce a massive amount of the sort of negative swaller that exists inside of social media," Kutcher said.
The actor said that social media had become a space for trolls because there is no dislike button, forcing users to post offensive comments. He explained his views based on how he handles arguments with his wife, saying that the content of criticisms they give each other may often be misinterpreted because of the differences in how they speak.
On the internet, that difference is magnified and could lead to bigger misunderstandings when strangers post their opinions. In some cases, people negatively comment because it's also one of the biggest ways to get attention.
The father said that he's always trying to look at investing in tech start-ups ethically to help change social media.
"I don't care about making money that much," Kutcher said.
