'Merry Gentlemen' star Chad Michael Murray puts ‘God and family first’ to avoid ‘bad situations’
Chad Michael Murray's career hasn't really been plagued by scandal or riddled with tabloid fallacies claiming the actor to be something he's not.
His longevity in the industry is unique for someone like Murray, who started out modeling before being cast in a litany of hunky heartthrob roles on the television shows and movies that have proven to be formative works in the millennial psyche.
The "One Tree Hill" actor, now 43 and a father to three children under 10, operates on the belief that life is better when God and family are put first, which is why he's seen such success.
CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY ON TEACHING HIS CHILDREN ABOUT FAITH: 'HAVING THE FEAR OF GOD IS VITAL'
"I truly believe for us – and this is again what's worked for us – is just having a foundation," he told Fox News Digital while promoting his partnership with Walmart for its Black Friday "Deals of Desire" campaign.
"You have to have a strong foundation to know that there's consequence for your action in life. And with God, we've been able to really have that."
WATCH: CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY TALKS PRIORITIZING GOD AND HIS FAMILY
"We don't walk around living in a bubble by any means. But we very much just love big, love strong. We love everybody. That's how we go through our life every day, just trying to live as we feel we should, right? Through love. And so, by putting God and family first, we tie that all up. It helps us make every other decision that we make in our life."
"It helps keep you out of bad situations," he continued. "By saying, 'You know what, this probably is not a good idea. Let's not go there.' Right? So I don't end up in places I shouldn't be; we don't end up in places we shouldn't be. We make good decisions."
"It could be something as simple as walking into a grocery store and someone's in a bad, foul mood," he relayed. "The response you could have would be to match that … and then it could become something you don't want to deal with. Or you try to match it with love and all of a sudden the simplest gesture, you know, changes someone's day."
Prioritizing God and family also means Murray's unit travels as a whole. Having recently celebrated his 10-year wedding anniversary with wife and actress Sarah Roemer, he spoke about the importance of keeping his family unit intact.
"We put God and family first. That's what we do in this family. And so, if that means I'm not taking a gig, I'm not taking a gig. It's just that simple. … If I have to change course, I change course," he explained. "At the end of the day, none of this is worth doing if I don't get to celebrate it with my family. Period."
To ensure success, Murray said he and his family don't separate.
"We travel everywhere together. You know, I don't spend a day apart. We don't break up the pack," he explained. "You know, the whole family goes, the whole pack goes or no one goes."
Murray said he and Roemer established this concept long before they started their family: "When we got married, I looked at her and I said, ‘Look … I want to do this a very traditional way.' Like, it's all or nothing. We won't work at the same time to make sure that we don't have to deal with any of those things. If you want to go to work, great. Boom. I'll take the kids."
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"That was what we agreed on, and we felt very comfortable with it," Murray said, going on to praise his wife for being an incredible mother. "That is the hardest job in the world, period. And she's so good at it. She's so good. And I love being a dad. And I wouldn't have it any other way than to have them come with [me]. This year, I got to watch my baby's first steps, even though I'm filming. So I'm in a position where I still get to come home and boom, they're there."
"It would be so hard to be away from them. I don't think I'd function nearly at the capacity I do now without having them there with me every day."
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Murray recently joined a new team by partnering with Walmart for its "Deals of Desire" campaign, which was a different experience than he's used to.
"I felt this whole campaign, the idea behind it was so genius, it was so interesting. I'd never seen anything like it. And when I first looked at the kind of outline of what we were going to accomplish here, it just felt so right. I found myself laughing hysterically and yet wanting to commit to this drama, knowing that we're really just conduits to talk about these deals. Like the stars are the deals, right? The iPads and all these different things … we're just backdrop. I'm used to having props, not being the prop. But this time I was the prop."
"I'm cool with that," he added.
Murray also stepped out of his comfort zone for his latest role in the Netflix flick "The Merry Gentlemen" in which he showed off his abs and dancing skills.
"There's no waking up getting out of bed like that," he said of his physique. "It was one of those things that scared the garbage out of me. And I said, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this right. You know, you're spending half of a movie with no shirt on," he admitted. "[You're] going to have to do what you can do to feel comfortable in your own skin."
While the actor shows a lot of skin in the movie, he said his wife was cool with it.
"She was super supportive, hands down, so supportive. She was like, ‘I’m concerned. What are you making?'"
"When you make a film like this, and we tread a really fine line, you go too far, and it's a very different film, right? And if you don't go enough, it's just not fun. I think we really threaded the needle. And for that, I'm very proud of a film that you can have on in the background and it doesn't feel wrong. You know what I mean? Like, we did a great job. Like, it's fun, it feels good. And so when my wife saw [it], she's like, ‘Oh Gosh, you guys nailed [it], nailed it.’"
WATCH: CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY TALKS FILMING ‘THE MERRY GENTLEMEN’
Murray, who had to dance in the film, said he went through rigorous training in a way he'd never experienced before.
"I just kind of put my head down and said, all right, first and foremost, let's get this dancing under control. I'd never danced professionally by any means, right? I've never done choreographed work. I'm more of a, you know, kind of dance in your kitchen, goofy kind of guy. … Maybe a wedding or two. And when this came up, I said it scares the c--p out of me. I got to do it. I got to do it. Let's go. I'm going to fall flat on my face. It might happen. Who knows, it's dancing. What the hell? And sure enough, we went out, and I just started studying."