Family can be both uplifting and maddening—Dwight Howard knows that firsthand. The former NBA star practically has a starting lineup of his own, being a father to five kids. So naturally, with a squad that size, things are bound to get a little wild. And as it turns out, Dwight Howard just revealed a chaotic family moment involving his daughter that probably still haunts him to this day.

We all know Dwight Howard’s love for flashy rides. He owns a $2.1 million car collection stacked with a Bentley Mulsanne, a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Cullinan, a beastly Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6X6, a Knight XV. And probably a few more stashed away somewhere. But recently, Howard opened up about a hilarious and slightly nerve-wracking moment. Which involved his daughter Layla, who had everything to do with one of those prized cars. And yep, people were left scratching their heads after hearing it.

On a recent episode of The Dawg Talk Podcast, Dwight Howard shared a wild dad moment that had the whole room cracking up. “My daughter, I let her drive to school. I just sit in the side, just let her drive, get comfortable driving in the car. And I’ll be doing the breaking.” Howard explained. But the experiment nearly ended in disaster. Howard went on, “One time I thought she was going to run into, I thought she was going to hit her car head on. I was pulling the wheel with her, I said, ‘No you got to turn the wheel.’ 

After hearing that, the whole place erupted in laughter. Let’s be real, Howard wasn’t about to let a dent land on one of those million-dollar marvels. He admits he still winces at the memory. It makes you wonder. Of course, Howard admits he wasn’t exactly a cautious teen driver either.

Howard reflects on his own wild driving days

While Dwight Howard was laughing about his daughter’s close call, he knew he wasn’t exactly a poster boy for safe driving back in the day either. Turns out, teenage Dwight had his own wild moment behind the wheel and, unlike Layla, he actually finished the job.

On The Dawg Talk Podcast (May 2025), the 39-year-old Howard revealed that, as a 17-year-old high-school senior, he piloted his first car—a 1998 Ford Crown Victoria—into a parked vehicle during a crooked parking attempt. Dwight Howard said, “I was a senior in high school in my first car Crown Vic (Ford Crown Victoria), and I ran into a parked car.” While the whole room was laughing, Howard kept on explaining. He then said, “I was trying to park the car and I hit a car. As I was parking, trying to turn in. I kept going thinking that I could move.”

Rather than shrug it off, Howard made it right years later. Once he’d secured his first NBA cheque, he tracked down the car’s owner and paid for every repair out of pocket. A cost that he calls his retroactive “guilty fee.” He laughed as he recalled the call: “She answered like, ‘Oh, so you’re the kid who totaled my Crown Vic?’ I said, ‘Yes, ma’am—I’m sorry.’” That act of accountability, he noted, taught him far more about responsibility than any court-mandated fine ever could.

Through the decades, that scratch has faded, but the lesson endures. Whether it’s a doting dad or a teenage driver, true growth comes from owning your mistakes.