“To see her with my children is one of the most beautiful things,” Vin Diesel told Extra of his goddaughter Meadow, who is the daughter of his late friend and Fast & Furious costar Paul Walker

Vin Diesel’s bond with his late friend and Fast & Furious costar Paul Walker’s daughter Meadow Walker is a deep and lifelong one.

In a recent interview with Extra surrounding the upcoming release of F9, the 53-year-old actor said his goddaughter Meadow, 22, “takes good care of me.”

“She’s the first person on Father’s Day to wish me Happy Father’s Day,” Diesel said. “To see her with my children is one of the most beautiful things. There are moments when I see her playing with [his 6-year-old daughter] Pauline and it hits me so deep ’cause I can only imagine what my brother sees when he sees that.”

“I feel very protective. It goes beyond the movie,” he added.

Touching on his relationship with Paul, Diesel said, “The whole point of the Fast & Furious saga is the idea that brotherhood can be created by bond and not necessarily blood.”

Vin Diesel (L); Paul Walker and daughter Meadow. JON KOPALOFF/GETTY; PAUL WALKER/INSTAGRAM

Vin Diesel with daughter Similce and Meadow Walker in December 2019. MICHAEL KOVAC/GETTY

Meadow has remained close to Diesel and his family, since her father died in a single-car crash in November 2013. He was 40 years old.

The model took to Instagram last month with a black-and-white photo of herself snuggled up to her godfather and Diesel’s daughter Similce, 13.

“Family <3,” Meadow captioned her post, on which Diesel commented, “All love. Always … “

Paul’s daughter previously shared a selfie with Diesel’s three kids in June 2020, including Pauline, Similce and son Vincent, 11, the former of whom was named after the late actor.

“Family, forever,” Meadow wrote in the caption.

Speaking with Access earlier this week, Diesel opened up about Paul’s legacy and how he looked up to the late star when he became a parent in real life, even if their characters in the Fast & Furious films had a differing mentorship dynamic onscreen.

“I was always the big brother on set, would protect anybody and ride for anybody. They may have looked up to me on set from the very beginning, but I hadn’t been a father, and Pablo had,” Diesel said of Paul.

“So I leaned on him when I transitioned [to fatherhood],” the actor continued. “He was my rock. He was the one that said — the irony is what the roles that we had and the scenes that we had that discussed fatherhood in Fast Five and throughout the franchise in real life were reversed.”

“To the point where, as you know, my youngest child, when I was in the delivery room and writing down her name, even my mom to this day says, ‘Pablo was in the room with you.’ And that’s why I wrote Pauline,” Diesel added.