In 2013, the world got a shock to its system when news was reported that Paul Walker and a friend had died in a horrific fiery car wreck. We all hoped it was just one of those fake news posts that like to kill off actors before their time. In his case, the news was sadly true. What many people couldn’t believe was — what were the chances that a guy who starred in a franchise that involved sports car racing would die in a sports car? It all seemed very surreal. It was an ironic end to a talented actor’s life and fans were deeply affected by his death.

Paul Walker has always been a likeable person in Hollywood and the Fast and the Furious franchise certainly gave him an insane fanbase. He was only 40 when his life was taken away and his death reminds us that we never really know how much time we have on this Earth. He was handsome, young, talented and taken away from us all too soon.

Walker was a very versatile actor, he could make us believe that he was a treasure hunter from Into the Blue. We believed that he could be a loving father in Hours, not to mention his awesome role as an undercover FBI agent in the Fast and the Furious franchise. But did we all really know the actor as well as we thought we did? Check out these secrets about Paul Walker only Vin Diesel can tell us.

He Wanted His Fame to Disappear

It’s always interesting to us when we hear that a famous actor doesn’t, well, want to be famous. Isn’t that why people become actors in the first place? They want to walk the red carpet, they want the money to buy a beach house and the love being on top of the world.

Granted, there are things about being a celebrity that sort of suck, like having your kid’s pictures splashed all over magazines, or not being able to go to Starbucks without the paparazzi camping outside the building.

But it’s what you sign up for when you become a Hollywood actor. For Paul Walker, the zen surfer, he wasn’t digging all the fame. During his last year alive he had an interview with Indiewire that was very revealing and not to mention, eerie. He stated how he felt life was just too short and how he wished his celebrity status would “all go away.”

He Loved Surfing More Than Anything

As most surfers will attest to, there is nothing like surfing. It’s about freedom and becoming one with the water. It can be your release, your salvation or it can crush you beneath its waves. It’s all about how you treat the water and what you want in return. For Walker, surfing was his release; it was where he went to release the stresses of his life and a career that had its downfalls.

“I sometimes struggle, because my job is like the antithesis of what surfing is all about. Surfing's simple. It's real.”

He was an avid surfer and it was something that he tried to do as much as possible. It was his way of feeling normal and getting time to himself. He could go out and the world would disappear. “the ocean is so magnificent, peaceful, and awesome, the rest of the world just disappears for me when I’m on a wave.”

The Worst Thing He Had Ever Done

Most people don’t know that at one time, Paul Walker faced felony charges. While doing an interview for the movie Takers in 2009, Walker revealed something very interesting when he was asked what the worst thing he had ever done was. Walker revealed that when he was 18 years old, he faced felony charges, though he didn’t reveal what those were for.

We’re not sure which felony Walker fit under, but he stated that he was really good at getting out of trouble because of his charm.

He had gotten in trouble regularly when he was young and used his good looks to get out of it. He once said that his personality was close to the character that he played in the movie Running Scared which is a very interesting revelation indeed.

Paul Walker Was A Secret Saint

Paul Walker may have done some shady things when he was young, but one thing is for sure, he had a huge heart. He truly believed that he should help others if the need arose. He wasn’t someone that stood idly by and threw money at a situation. He had a passion for disaster relief and many people don’t know that he founded a non-profit organization called Reach Out WorldWide. It was all about disaster-relief and helping those in need during tragic times. He did a lot of charitable acts, but he preferred to stay under the radar— he didn’t want any praise for the things that he was doing. "When you put good will out there it's amazing what can be accomplished." JD Dorfman once said.

“Paul wasn’t someone who would just write a check and lend his name to an organization; he was the heart and soul of Reach Out WorldWide.

Paul was the first one in and the last one out, he led by example and his hard work and dedication inspired everyone who had the privilege of working with him.”

He Taught Vin Diesel All About Fatherhood

There’s no denying the friendship between Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, but what was more glaringly obvious was what a great father Walker was to his daughter. Despite the fact that she wasn’t a planned pregnancy, he jumped in full steam ahead and made her a priority in his life. One of his favorite things in the world was being a father and the true tragedy is the fact that his daughter will grow up without him in her life. He would often give fatherhood advice to Diesel who took everything he said to heart.

"When we were in the cars in between takes, he would tell me, 'Hey, Vin, it's not a scary thing to become a father' (and) give me all the good advice," he continued.

"Next thing you know, I am a dad, which is why I named my daughter Pauline — because of the credit that Paul Walker deserves in my personal life."

He Claimed To Have A Criminal’s Mind

Maybe that was why he was always so good at playing the bad guy, though he never sucked at playing the good guy either. While doing an interview for Takers, he said that he enjoyed being the bad guy. It was fun and technically it didn’t count because the bad guy was also good.

"Yeah, because he's a good bad guy. The crew was kind of similar to what you have walking the line, likeable, but bad. Similar to what you saw in like, Oceans 11 or Point Break."

When asked what kind of personality he thought he had, Walker stated that he was “criminally minded.” Kind of like one of those likeable bad guys that he keeps talking about. There was a dark side to the actor that not too many people knew about but there's not denying he a great heart.

He Was Determined To Help Disaster Survivors

We now know that Paul Walker had his own disaster-relief foundation, but we bet you never knew that he was often on the ground after the wake of these disasters. Following the earthquake in Chile in 2010, he was on the ground helping survivors and handing out supplies. Now we certainly don’t see that every day when it comes to a famous actor.

“I'm a doer, and whether it was the tsunami in Sri Lanka or the earthquake in Indonesia, I was always saying, 'I should be there. I should be helping out.'”

He wasn’t interested in people knowing that he was there. He just wanted to know his duties, so he could go out and get the job done. “I’d made a few runs into Port-au-Prince and was negotiating with the army to give me baby formula, tents, extension cords, I was hustling for everything.”

He Had Full Custody Of His Daughter

We all know that he was a good father — that part was obvious to everyone who knew him. Many didn't know, however, that he had full custody of his daughter, Meadow Rain Walker. That’s usually a rare case, celebrity or not — children usually stay with their mother. So, it begs the question, why was his daughter living with him full-time? His daughter grew up in Hawaii since that is where her mother resides, but in 2012, she moved to Santa Barbra to live with Walker permanently. It’s rumored that her mother was struggling with a drinking problem and it was seen best that she live with her father. He would often take her with him when he worked and always made sure he planned fun things to do in whatever city they would be in.

He Had Another Road Accident 

In Final Destination, we see how death tries to take a life and when the person cheats death, death lingers nearby. When it came to Paul Walker, he cheated death once in 2008 and it makes us wonder how many lives this guy had. He was on his way back from the gym when he ran his motorcycle into the back of a car at 50 miles per hour. The driver was talking on a cell phone and was not paying attention to the road.

"It was pretty bad, I ran into the back of a car about 50 miles an hour.

It was on July 3rd. We had a cell phone law that went into effect on the first, no more driving around with cell phones."

He Was Ticketed For Texting While Driving

Although Walker almost died because someone was on their cell phone while driving in 2008, years later, he was ticketed for driving while texting. He was pretty upset about the person that was on their phone when his accident happened, but he seemed to have forgotten those dangers while he was in Ventura County, California. Although we'd all like to think we abide by the rules, most people either text or chat on the phone while driving and just try and not get caught. And no matter how good we are at multitasking, using our cell while driving is dangerous no matter what.

His Love of Animals Stopped at Hunting

Paul Walker was a champion for the environment; he even studied marine biology at one point. He loved animals and was very vocal about it, but he also hunted from time to time.

"Yeah, but I'm passionate about animals and I hunt too. It's like I save and I kill. I'm a walking talking contradiction. I'm all about preserving the environment, but I'm also racing cars on the weekend.

I tell everyone I'm a gun loving hippy." At one point he had given up hunting in exchange for photography, which he found far more enjoyable. Maybe hunting was just a taste of his dark side coming out.

He Bought Someone An Engagement Ring

Before you get too excited, he wasn’t ready to marry anyone, in fact, at the time of his death, he wasn’t even in a serious relationship. When we talk about the kindness of Walker, it stems from the things he did for other people without looking for anything in return. One jeweller named Irene King in Santa Barbra told CNN about a time that Walker was in her store over a decade ago. The actor had overheard a young veteran who was shopping for rings with his fiancée. Walker heard him tell the girl that he couldn’t afford to buy her a ring, so, Walker told the manager to put the ring on his account. King was blown away and said it was “the most generous thing I have ever seen.”

He Wasn’t A Very Good Boyfriend

We’re sure this little bit of information will make girls all over the world weep. He was surely a guy that many women all over the world dreamed of being with. He’s insanely good looking and he’s admitted himself that he can be charming when he wants to be. The mother of his child is Rebecca Soteros and the two were dating in the '90s when Soteros found out she was pregnant. The two didn’t last much longer, however, and separated the following year. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that in interviews, Walker has stated that he was not the best boyfriend to Rebecca. We’re not entirely sure what that means, but for whatever reason, he didn’t think he was a good boyfriend. Walker definitely isn’t someone who’s been in a lot of relationships over the years.

He Didn’t Consider Himself Superman Material

You might not be aware that he was once offered the role of Superman and he turned it down. He claimed that the character wasn’t him and that he was more suited to play characters like the one in Fast and the Furious. It all comes back to that dark side of him and Superman doesn't have a dark side. It takes a special kind of actor to be able to fake being a bad guy in order to go undercover. He played it perfectly, and it’s probably because there was a part of him that could relate to that role. He also wasn’t someone that wanted to live a lavish lifestyle.

He was once homeless if you can believe it and had to do what he could to survive. “I know I sound like a broken record, but ten years ago, I was living out of a garage and panhandling,

so just being a little comfortable is more than good for me. In fact, this is heaven.”

Sometimes His Dark Side Wins 

Paul Walker has stated on more than one occasion that he is a lot like his character in Running Scared which is truly revealing. He’s claimed that he has a dark side and sometimes that dark side comes out. Many people didn’t know the real Paul Walker — he’s stated they just see what he portrays during interviews, but that’s not always a great example of who someone really was.

"I think on the outside, what people see and what I present, especially when I'm doing press, but what they've seen in movies, they've seen the friendly, nice guy, which I like to think that I am. But I definitely have a dark side. I think everybody does."

This could be why he was such a great actor because he could tap into that dark side whenever he wanted to.