JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN TAKING A BIG SWING

THE WALKING DEAD STAR OPENS UP ABOUT FATHERHOOD AND HITTING THE ROAD IN AN UNEXPECTED NEW ROLE

- KIRSTEN ACUNA

Jeffrey Dean Morgan grins as he shows off his wrists stacked with jewelry, much of which came from his 7-year-old daughter George. “She makes me bracelets and stuff,” he says proudly, “and I’m always wearing these really colorful kid necklaces.” Off to the side is a backpack holding another memento—a stuffed animal George tied on nearly three years ago—that Morgan, 59, carries everywhere, whether he’s filming stateside or traveling through Europe as the host of NBC’s new reality competition series Destination X.

The image of a plushie-toting softy is a far cry from Negan, the foul-mouthed, baseball-bat-wielding menace Morgan has embodied since 2016 on AMC’s The Walking Dead and its spinoff Dead City. But the small tokens help Morgan feel close to George and his 15-year-old son Gus—both of whom he shares with his wife, One Tree Hill star Hilarie Burton, 42—while away from their farm in Rhinebeck, N.Y.