Clint Eastwood 'saved' his daughter by raising her outside of Los Angeles: 'I am very thankful'
Clint Eastwood's daughter Alison is "very thankful" her famous father opted to raise her away from Los Angeles. Alison has since moved back in her adult years but recognized the difficulty that would have come with her childhood if she was raised in the spotlight.
Clint Eastwood's daughter, Alison, is "very thankful" her famous father decided to raise her away from Los Angeles.
During an interview with Fox News Digital, the Eastwood Ranch Foundation Animal Welfare and Rescue facility founder explained that her father "saved" her from the hardships that she would have faced being raised in Hollywood with a famous parent.
"Growing up in the industry was very interesting," Alison began. "Although I didn't really grow up in L.A., which I am very thankful for, I grew up in the Carmel, Pebble Beach, Monterey area, and I feel like maybe that kind of saved me from some of the pitfalls that might have happened when a child grows up with a celebrity parent in Los Angeles."
She continued, "I have been living in Los Angeles since 2000, so I'm a longtime Angeleno. I'm a huge advocate for Southern California, whatever I can do to help the community and be part of it. I was born in Santa Monica, even though I wasn't raised here, and I think for me, it's just about helping the community and being part of a solution and really just being a great resource for people."
CLINT EASTWOOD ALWAYS SPENT TIME WITH KIDS DURING HIS BUSY CAREER
Alison founded the Eastwood Ranch Foundation Animal Welfare and Rescue nonprofit organization in Agoura Hills, California, in 2012. The facilities' goal is to "not only rescue animals from high-kill shelters but to help reduce pet overpopulation and increase pet adoptions through campaigns, events, education, spay/neuter programs and rescue partnerships," per the website.
"I love people, I love animals, and I want them to come together," Alison told Fox News Digital. "And I thought this was the best way to make that happen."
Alison explained that she was prompted to start her organization "when I became painfully aware of the overpopulation problem we had in our Southern California shelters and then everywhere in the country."
WATCH: Clint Eastwood 'saved' his daughter by raising her outside of Los Angeles
"But I wanted to do something locally. So, I started the animal rescue, and we had been working without bricks and mortar of our own for over 10 years now," she continued. "So, we just opened our own place, and we're hoping to help more animals. And then we also want to be a resource for the community, volunteer programs, educational programs. This is a place where people can come and hopefully feel good and get a new furry friend or a family member."
Clint has been nothing but supportive of his daughter's venture for more than a decade.
"My dad and my family have been incredibly supportive. We're all a team. We're all animal lovers," she said. "It's really a family affair because we have all been long-time nature, animal lovers and just supporters of doing good and being philanthropic. So, he's thrilled."
Growing up with Clint as her father and being on-set was often "always fun" for Alison.
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WATCH: Alison Eastwood shares her favorite memories with her father
"I remember getting to do the clapboard before they would start a camera roll in the scene, and I got to help out with craft service. So, we just sort of did whatever we did. It was fun," Alison said. "My brother and I always tooled around quite a bit when we were kids."
Clint, an acclaimed actor and former mayor of Carmel, has eight children.
In addition to Alison, Clint is father to seven other children: daughter Laurie, son Kyle, daughter Kimber, son Scott, daughter Kathryn and daughter Morgan.
Over the years, Clint, 94, has given his daughter, Alison, some great advice.
"The best advice I've ever received from my dad, at least, was he told me that I should make sure to get enough sleep. He said, 'If you don't get enough sleep, you're not going to be able to do all this stuff,'" she said.
Getting rest will help Alison accomplish all the goals she has in mind for the Eastwood Ranch Foundation Animal Welfare and Rescue.
WATCH: Alison Eastwood shares why she opened an animal welfare and rescue facility
"Well, since we've opened, obviously, I want to make sure this place is doing great, but my next big goal is to go to Sacramento and to try to come up with a comprehensive bill to pass for spay and neuter," she told Fox News Digital.
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"One of our biggest problems is spay and neuter, and we don't have a comprehensive law in California, and we need one. And I'm totally bipartisan. I would like to go up there and figure out how to fix this problem we have and really make it more mandatory that pets are spayed or neutered," she continued, "make it more available for people who want to fix their pets. We have a lot of pets that are turned in or owner surrendered, as we call it, and we want to make sure those people can keep their pets."
"So figuring out how to keep families together and that means four-legged and two-legged is really one of our biggest goals," Alison concluded.
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