Hot Dad Goes Viral at 45 Trying to Start Modeling Career

Collin Hayslett and Dad

Hot Dad Goes Viral at 45 Trying to Start Modeling Career

Dad’s gone viral!

Collin Hayslett, a junior at the University of Toledo, shared a series of photos from his dad, Clint Hayslett’s, very first fashion photoshoot — and the internet went wild over Clint’s Hollywood good looks.

“My dad is 45, pursuing a modeling career, and I’ve never seen him happier. He told me he’s just waiting for a chance to blow up. So, Twitter, meet my dad,” Collin captioned the photos of his dad modeling for the up-and-coming sunglass brand, Donahue Eyewear.

Immediately after posting, his tweet instantly became a meme on the internet and has garnered 81,236 retweets and 376,241 likes since sharing it last Thursday.

My dad is 45, pursuing a modeling career, and I’ve never seen him happier. He told me he’s just waiting for a chance to blow up. So, Twitter, meet my dad. pic.twitter.com/zYSmZGbPCn

— Collin (@coolcat_collin) March 28, 2019

A ton of Twitter users started spoofing the tweet, subbing in photos of celebs as their dads.

My dad is 45, pursuing a modeling career, and I’ve never seen him happier. He told me he’s just waiting for a chance to blow up. So, Twitter, meet my dad. pic.twitter.com/xbW9PXtmHw

— tony (@tttonyy) March 29, 2019

My dad is 71, pursuing a modeling career, and I’ve never seen him happier. He told me he’s just waiting for a chance to blow up. So, Twitter, meet my dad. pic.twitter.com/r65souxf8F

— kaysi / happy adam scott day! (@Iilithsternin) March 30, 2019

My dad's are 43 and 63 years old. They've been married 20 years, pursue acting and directing careers, and i've never seen them happier. They both told me that they're just waiting for a chance to blow up. So twitter, meet my dads. pic.twitter.com/rDbLVzeD73

— 𝚍𝚊𝚗, #𝟷 𝚕𝚒𝚟 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗 | 98 (@carolsthot) March 31, 2019

And on April Fool’s Day, Lin-Manuel Miranda even got in on the fun by sharing photos of his own dad with the same caption as Collin’s.

My dad is 64, pursuing a modeling career, and I’ve never seen him happier. He told me he’s just waiting for a chance to blow up. So, Twitter, meet my dad. pic.twitter.com/ePRQNnZHbf

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) April 1, 2019

So what does Clint think of all the attention? “I’m wiped out. I’m worn out. I’ve never held my phone for so many hours. It’s very humbling and inspiring,” he told TIME.

According to the Toledo Blade, Clint has been a pastor for the past 20 years and spent the last five working at Harvest Lane Alliance Church in Toledo. After working in retail, he decided to make a professional leap to modeling in September, after being told my friends and family that he should give it a try. “I have laughed that off for years,” Clint told the Toledo Blade. “I was not confident in myself. I just took the nudge from everybody else. Sometimes you just have to listen to what everybody else is saying.”

While he has a slew of internet fans, he says his wife is still his number-one supporter. “She’s my high school sweetheart. That’s the only one who really matters,” Clint told TIME.

So what’s next for the viral star? He’s set to go to a model casting in Chicago soon and the lasting legacy of the tweet-gone-viral will live on thanks to Donahue Eyewear’s special aviator-style sunglasses called “The Clint,” coming soon.