Eddie Murphy forbade his children from acting until they turned 18.

The Hollywood legend wanted to ensure his 10 children had a normal childhood before they stepped into the world of filmmaking.

Bella Murphy, 24, recalled in the new issue of PEOPLE magazine: "I would always ask my dad, 'Can I please be an extra in this movie, please?'

"He'd always say, 'No,' because we have a rule that we can't act or work until we're 18 in this industry. He really wanted me to have a normal childhood, which I'm very appreciative of."

But the Beverly Hills Cop's rule made Bella - Eddie and his ex-wife, Nicole Mitchell's youngest child - even hungrier to become an actress.

She said: "That kind of made me even more obsessed with it because I was like, 'Oh, I can't do it now. So by the time that I am able to do it, I want to be as prepared as possible.'

"I was like, 'It's the coolest job ever.' I'm like, 'I want to do that.'"

Bella knew acting was what she "definitely" wanted to do at the age of nine, and her eldest sister, Bria, 36, was an influence.

Bella remembered: "She wanted to be an actress before I did, and I was doing the younger sister [thing], like 'I'm going to copy you,'" Bella explained. "And then it worked out. It was actually what I wanted to do, so that was cool."

But Bella broke 65-year-old Eddie's rule, as she made her screen debut at the age of 17 as the daughter of Eddie's character, Akeem, in his 2021 movie, Coming 2 America.

And The Nutty Professor actor insisted that Bella had to work as hard as any other actor to land the part.

During an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America in 2021, he said: "She had to audition for Craig Brewer, who directed the movie.

"I wasn't musclin' my kid into the movie. She had to really be able to -- you know, to deliver. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten the role."

Eddie is a dad to 10 children. He shares Eric, 36, with Paulette McNeely and Christian, 35, with Tamara Hood.

He fathered Bria, Shayne, 31, Zola, 26, and Bella and son Miles, 33, with his ex-wife Nicole Mitchell, daughter Angel, 19, with Spice Girls star Melanie Brown, 50, and he also has Izzy, nine, and Max, seven, with his current wife, 46-year-old Paige Butcher.