- Friends Ronn Shikari and Vince Krause said Paul Walker talked to his family about quitting acting so he could see his daughter more often
- Described the actor as fiercely loyal to his friends and lacking in arrogance associated with celebrities
- Another friend Ricardo Miller was Walker's Brazilian jiu jitsu instructor for almost 10 years
- He traveled with the actor to movie sets to help coordinate fight scenes
- Miller took candid photos of the actor during their time together
- He told MailOnline that Walker cared more about being a good father and son than about being a movie star
‘Fast and Furious’ star Paul Walker was due to give up acting this year, so he could spend more time with his daughter Meadow.
The 40-year-old actor, who died in a car accident Saturday, wanted to make up for lost time with Meadow, now 15, after she spent the first 14 years of her life in Hawaii, where her mother, Rebecca Soteros, lived.
This is according to two of his closest friends, Ronn Shikari and Vince Krause, who both live in Hawaii.
Aloha spirit: Ronn Shikari, pictured left and right with Paul Walker, met the actor seven years ago in Hawaii and bonded over their mutual love of jiu-jitsu
Long-distance friendship: Whenever Walker (far right) would come to Hawaii to see his daughter, he would spend time with Shikari (center)
They’ve both seen the love Paul has for Meadow and say he was sick of filming abroad and away from his daughter. That is why he was due to retire from acting and lead a life away from the limelight, so that he could get to know his daughter even more.
Ronn says: ‘We were really good friends and whenever he was in Hawaii, I would always see him. He’s such a great guy and about as anti-Hollywood as you can get.
‘There’s this image of the movie superstar with the swagger and arrogance and being the big man, but Paul was none of that, he wanted to just be a regular guy.
‘He was a family man and I know it hurt him to be spending so much time away from Meadow on location; he loved being with his daughter, she was his world. That’s why he wanted to retire from acting and talked to his family about it, as he’d achieved everything he wanted to achieve.
Loving dad: Friends said Walker, seen here during filming in Montreal, wanted to spend much more time with his daughter, Meadow (pictured right) to make up for 'lost years'
Inseparable: One of Walker's other closets friends was Vince Krause, pictured in the center with Don Lee
Friend Vince Krause confirms that the most important thing in Paul’s life was his family and not his acting career.
‘Paul was one of the best people I have ever known,’ he added. ‘He was as selfless a person as I have met. He loved being a father and it was very clear that his daughter was the most important thing in the world to him.
‘Being a father myself, it was one of the topics we discussed most.’
Earlier this year, Walker admitted that he only recently found out just how important his daughter was to his life after she moved from Hawaii to live with him in Santa Barbara.
‘She's the best partner I've ever had. I've never had anything like this in my life. I've been so transient; I've been on my own since I was 16,’ he said. ‘There's a part of me who feels like I'm making up for lost time.
Happier times: Paul, Vince (crouching) and friends, May 2010, Lanikai Beach House Kailua, Hawaii
Male bond: Vince Krause, pictured from the back far right, said Paul was fiercely loyal and loved his friends unconditionally
‘We developed a great friendship, one that lasted to this day. As with any sincere and fun person, it was easy to like Paul: he was just like your everyday awesome, cool dude that loved to laugh, joke around and have fun,’ says Ronn Shikari.
‘I remember on many occasions, girls would walk by or waitresses would serve us at a restaurant and not even recognise Paul because he looked like one of the boys, wearing flip flops, surf shorts and a T-shirt, often sporting a scraggly beard.’
He added: ‘There’s a side to him that I think people didn't really know about. He was an amazingly positive person and loved to play and live life to the fullest but those close to him recognised that he was a heavy thinker and felt on a deeper level than most people.
‘I don't think fans or the general public knew that about him. He analyzed life and we would converse on all topics, from relationships to struggles to humanity. This was the true Paul in my opinion.
Extended family: This picture was taken on the Fourth of July last year in Kailua, Hawaii, showing Paul, Vince (second row, second left) and Ronn (second row, third left)
‘I think that some people may decide to do charity work because it’s fashionable or strategically good for their social status, but Paul was the antithesis of superficiality.
‘Paul Walker was no ordinary man. Even now, in his passing, he is teaching the world to give more, teaching his friends to love and forgive more. It makes me more want to be like him,’ says Shikari.
Krause added: ‘He was humble, accommodating, sincere, appreciative, grateful, fiercely loyal, and loved his friends unconditionally. There was no ego to his outlook.
‘He always showed a deep thirst to learn more, and gobbled up knowledge wherever and whenever he could. I'm sure that's why he knew so much about so many different things. He challenged everybody to be the best versions of themselves that they could be, while expecting the same of himself.
Retirement plans: Walker's friends revealed that the actor (center) was planning to quit Hollywood so he could spend more time with his beloved daughter
‘You felt like a better person just being around him. He will be greatly missed and we should all honor his memory by being the best people we can be.’
Krause and Shikari's characterization of Walker dovetails with the words of his other close friend Ricardo ‘Franjinha’ Miller, who told MailOnline that the tragic actor was more interested in being a good father and than a movie star.
Ricardo and Paul struck up a close bond after the Fast and Furious star came to him asking for help in perfecting his fight scenes nearly a decade ago when he was living in Santa Barbara, California, where Ricardo has a Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy.
Since then, the pair have worked together on almost all of Paul’s films, with Ricardo being on set helping to co-ordinate fight scenes.
Long friendship: Brazilian Ju-Jitsu trainer Ricardo Miller (right) was Paul Walker's personal trainer and close friend for nearly a decade
In training: Walker relied on Miller to help him with his fight scenes on film sets
Ricardo says: 'He was a really great guy, so down to earth. His life was really special, he had a lot to live for. He loved to have fun, he wanted to help everybody and he illuminated everyone’s life.'
‘I’ve known Paul since 2004. I met him in Santa Barbara where he lived. I run the Paragon Jui-Jitsu Academy and he was interested in making the fight scenes in his movies more real, so we started doing private lessons together.
‘We’d be training for two hours a day, and Paul would want to do it more and more, as he could see the potential in it. Every time he was free between movies, we’d train. I believed he wanted to change the way people see the fights today in Hollywood. He wanted to bring a different perspective to the fight scene genre. I think like Bruce Lee did in his time. He changed the way people used to see fight scenes.
Lost friend: Ricardo Miller pictured with Paul Walker on the set of the film Brick Mansions (left) and the Jiu Jitsu brown belt that Miller tied around a tree in his hono
Martial artists: Ricardo Miller (bottom row, center) met Paul Walker almost 10 years ago and the two became close friends
Teacher: Paul Walker takes on an opponent as his teacher offers encouragement
‘He wanted to do more than kick and punches, he wanted the fight scenes to be more realistic with grappling, chokes, armbars, legs and foot locks. So that people think it looks more real. He wanted people to understand that fights are more than just about a punch and kick. He wanted them to have more of a Jiu-Jitsu style.
‘Everything he does, he wants to do to the best of his potential. He’s very professional. When I’d teach him moves, he’d not get it the first time, then he’d try and try, he was such a perfectionist. He wanted to learn my way, like the teacher, he wouldn’t want to be just the average guy. He was impatient to get to the top, and was determined to be the best.
‘He finished up as a brown belt, but there’s no doubt he would have ended up as a black belt.’
Ricardo - who has two academies in California and goes all round the globe teaching Jui-Jitsu - is also a personal friend of the family and was invited to the memorial last Monday at the site where Paul and friend Roger Rodas crashed in Santa Clarita, California on Saturday afternoon.
It was there that he tied Paul’s brown belt round the tree, which is the centre point of the shrine dedicated to his life.
Movie star life: Miller traveled with Paul Walker to movie sets, such as that of film Brick Mansions earlier this year
Family friend: Miller (pictured right) presented Walker's father Paul Snr with a black belt at the actor's memorial service last Monday
Close: Miller was Walker's friend and martial arts instructor for almost 10 years
‘I had the privilege to be invited to that memorial. It took him 10 years to get to brown belt and I attached it to the tree where the crash happened,’ says Ricardo.
‘I also presented his dad with a black belt. I called him before the service, as we get on really great and been on set together a number of times. I said I want to present to you something that I know Paul would be very happy for you to have because I was training him for ten years to get to this – a black belt.
'There’s no doubt he would have gotten there in the next two years and I wanted his dad to have it. I asked him: “Do you want to put it on the tree, or in the coffin?” But his dad said: “No, I want to keep it for myself. I know how important it was to Paul, I know you helped him so much, I know you made my son a much better person and I want to keep that for me as a present and a memory.” He took it home. His dad was very emotional.’
Ricardo also reveals that they used to travel together when he was filming – with him being on hand for Paul to talk through any issues he had and the fighting scenes. He was with him throughout the Fast and Furious franchise.
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‘I went to a few movies as his personal assistant. I was there when he filmed The Death and Life of Bobby Z and the last one he did, Brick Mansions. Every fight scene he did in Hollywood, he wanted to do some Ju-Jitsu move in it,’ says Ricardo.
‘Paul was always trying to work together with the directors and producers to trying to bring something new to the big screen that could help improve the movie to the public.
‘When they were filming Fast and Furious, as it was in California, he used to come to my gym whenever he’d have a break in filming. He would always try and take the moves into his films and if he was struggling with a technique, he’d take me on set, and keep practicing to get better.
‘I’ve now been teaching his other brother Cody for a couple of months.’
Buff: Walker pictured on the set of 'Brick Mansions' in peak physical fitness
Candid shot: Paul Walker (center) pictured resting in between scenes of 'Brick Houses' in Montreal
For now, Ricardo, just like Paul’s family is struggling to accept that he’s actually gone. The martial arts expert says that Paul didn’t really care for acting – and it was daughter Meadow and the rest of the family that he lived for.
‘Everyone is very devastated, it was a very sudden death, he was such a great person that it’s very hard to accept that right now. Everyone keeps thinking that you’re going to see him tomorrow. I keep thinking that he’s going to call me and say: “Hey, let’s go to another class.” It’s hard to accept it’s real.
‘Life is very fast, we just need to enjoy our friends and family. There may never be a tomorrow. He didn’t tell everyone all the great things that he was doing; he kept it quiet.
‘It took me years to find out what he was doing for charity. I didn’t know he had done this or that, he never bragged about. It’s only when we talked that I’d find out. When he said he was going to charity events, I didn’t even know it was the charity he’d set up!
‘He didn’t care about the spotlight. He just wanted to be a father, brother, son, a good person. He didn’t like to put himself out there.
‘He had no regrets in life. He’d achieved everything he wanted to do, he had such a full life.’
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