Kevin Smith Says Veganism Reconciles His Childhood Promise to Love Animals

Famed filmmaker Kevin Smith explains his vegan journey in a moving new video with his daughter Harley Quinn Smith. In the film—produced by animal-rights organization Mercy For Animals—Kevin Smith praised his daughter for inspiring him to go vegan, stating that he was impressed with her tenacity to live her own truth. “It’s an incredible way to live your life, knowing that you aren’t harming any other living beings,” Harley Quinn Smith said about her reasons for going vegan. “We just want everybody to be compassionate and happy and free to live their lives without any suffering or pain.” Kevin Smith explained that he first adopted a plant-based diet as an experiment for six months after surviving a near-fatal heart attack last year. While Kevin Smith admits that he first changed his diet for “selfish” health reasons, he is now choosing to embrace the ethical side of veganism, explaining that he is happy with the compassionate person he has become. “I was the little kid that loved the sh*t out of animals,” Kevin Smith said. “And to be a 48-year-old man who delivered on the promise that that kid probably had in his heart … like that kid would have probably been confused, [and say], ‘We love animals. Why are we eating lamb?’” Harley Quinn Smith said that she never expected that her father would go vegan. “To say that he is a part of the vegan community,” she said, “it still shocks me every time.”