History Main / PlayboyHasADaughter

* [[AbhorrentAdmirer Howard Wolowitz]] from ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' [[DownplayedTrope doesn't have]] [[CasanovaWannabe a lot of paramours]] on account of being short and geeky, but he fits the spirit of the trope as 1) his unwanted advances on and perverted behavior towards various female characters, and 2) while his relationship with [[LoveInterest Bernadette Rostankowski]] is the main reason for his CharacterDevelopment into a better person, they have a daughter Holly together; in one later season episode, Howard expresses hope that his daughter will have the same amount of sex in his old room that he did: none.

When a male character known for bedding countless female partners is now raising a daughter.

Besides the sweet irony, this trope arises from the contrast between how the Playboy used to live/behave and how they do now that they have to dedicate themselves to a relationship to a member of the opposite sex after avoiding that for so long. This trope can be shown from either end as the daughter's role can be utilized in two ways: If we're meant to see the Playboy's journey from irresponsible, hedonistic libertine to mature, responsible family man, [[MoralityPet she'll be the catalyst that sets him on that path]]. Alternatively, we can see the playboy's journey where he becomes a better person over the course of the story, and seeing him with a daughter after a TimeSkip, as a way to show that he had to grow up first ''before'' being ready for the responsibility of raising a child. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed versions]] will just show him with her with the narrative omitting his transformation entirely, content to imply it happened offscreen, though the journey itself isn't required for the soul of this trope; the daughter can just as well be a marker for how far her father's come since the story began. Whether she starts it or marks it, the point is he's not that guy anymore.

** In the series finale, Barney himself, the biggest playboy of the series, falls into this when, after divorcing Robin, he falls back into his serial womanizing ways and has sex with a girl a day for an entire month. The girl he sleeps with on the final day gets pregnant. The moment he holds his daughter Ellie in his arms, he declares her the love of his life and finally gives up being a playboy for good to happily raise her.
*** The spinoff ''Series/HowIMetYourFather'' downplays this, in Barney's cameo appearance. While Barney meeting his daughter still prompted him to change, it wasn't an immediate fix -- as of 2023, he is currently part of a Womanizers Anonymous group and undergoing shock therapy so he can stop compulsively hitting on women.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'':

* ''Series/Kaamelott}}'': Arthur has half a dozen mistresses and who knows how many flings (but he won't touch the queen, both because he doesn't like her and because of an oath he swore to the true love of his life), but not one child to his name, at least officially. In the final season he starts going around Britain looking for said flings in case they had children, but learning not one of them survived infancy sends him deeper into depression (pushed along by the BigBad) and his eventual attempted suicide.

Compare ChildrenRaiseYou. This can also be a justification for an OverprotectiveDad if he assumes that his daughter's potential boyfriends are as chauvinistic as he was in his youth.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'': Adapted from ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'', when Scanlan discovers [[spoiler:Kaylie]] is his daughter in this version, he bungles his apology to her by calling her mother the wrong name. But he's still distraught to have been a DisappearedDad for so long, prompting him to stop running away from danger and actually do some good to make up for all the philandering he's done.