Cory Wharton’s daughter Ryder goes to school with Dream Kardashian, and the two classmates apparently butt heads over their families’ respective levels of fame.
“For me, I’ve had to humble Ryder a little bit,” Wharton, 33, said on a recent episode of the official Challenge recap podcast. “All she’s known is television. We also shoot Teen Mom, it’s not a secret. She would just say, ‘My dad’s on TV.’ She doesn’t say reality star or an athlete, just, ‘We’re on TV.’”
Wharton further noted that Ryder, 7, has even had similar conversations with classmate Dream, 8.
“Dream and Ryder were getting into an argument over who’s more famous,” Wharton recalled. “These girls are in second grade! I’m like, ‘Ryder, don’t you ever argue with a Kardashian on who’s more famous. We’re gonna step to the side on this argument next time.’”
Dream, of course, is the only child of exes Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna. Dream’s paternal aunts are moguls Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner.
Ryder, meanwhile, is the daughter of Wharton and his ex Cheyenne Floyd. Since the former couple’s split, Wharton has moved on with Taylor Selfridge and they share daughters Mila, 3, and Maya, 12 months. (Floyd also shares son Ace, 3, with husband Zach Davis.)
“You always want to make sure, especially my little ones, that they are humble about it,” Wharton added on the November podcast episode. “I don’t think they view me as being cooler. I just think it’s what we do.”
Wharton and Selfridge also had to overcome new hurdles when Maya required open-heart surgery as a baby.
“I don’t think you realize how much weight it puts on the family until you can kind of turn the chapter. I think with us, we put a lot of weight on ourselves separately,” Wharton exclusively told Us Weekly in July. “Sleeping in the hospital window seal for two weeks with each other and showering in the ICU and all this crazy stuff. It brings you closer and that’s what it did for our family.”
Selfridge chimed in, “[Cory and I] got stronger in that time because that’s one of the worst things you can go through.”
Maya underwent her first procedure in January 2023 when she was 7 months old. Her last surgery is scheduled for summer 2025.
“It’s almost like the parents deal with the trauma more than the young kid at the time because Maya is only 1,” Wharton told Us. “She’s not going to remember too much of it. Parents have to deal with that weight of the hospital for two weeks straight and all the surgeries. Even talking about it, you get a little choked up.”