Eddie Murphy talks about his career and 10 children in rare interview (Exclusive)

There’s pride and self-respect and that magical confidence that Eddie Murphy has. “My most important blessing is that I love myself,” the legendary comedian and movie star, 64, tells PEOPLE in a rare in-depth interview in this week’s issue.

“I’ve always loved myself. I’ve always been my own biggest fan. That’s the core of every decision you make. Some people go all the way through life and get to the end and say, ‘I finally love myself.’ That’s how I started, too.”

Next year marks the somewhat reclusive icon’s 50th anniversary in show business, and to celebrate, he’s peeling back the layers in a new Netflix documentary, Being Eddie. “In a business where people come and go, most people don’t last 50 years,” he says.

Murphy broke out in the ’80s as a young standout in stand-up and Saturday Night Live, and went on to have a string of early box office successes, including “48 HRS.,” “Trading Places” and “Beverly Hills Cop.” The following decades brought further hits, such as The Nutty Professor, Dreamgirls, and Shrek, but also some failures, such as The Adventures of Pluto Nash.

In the new doc, he credits his inherent self-love with protecting him from many Hollywood pitfalls: the deadly drug and alcohol addictions that have claimed the lives of so many comedy heroes and colleagues. He also shared the first look at his storybook, LA House, giving intimate details of his life as a husband to wife Paige Butcher and a proud father of 10 children. “It’s great to be Eddie,” he says. “It’s a unique life I’ve lived.”

Born in Brooklyn, Murphy was estranged from his mother, Lillian, when he was young, and his father, Charles, was murdered by a woman he was dating. This tragedy definitely left a mark on Murphy’s life.

“I’m sure it affected me in different ways,” he says of losing the man who fought with his mother from an early age. “There’s been a lot of trauma, and we’ve all been shaped by that trauma.” Murphy’s mother remarried Vernon Lynch Sr., and Murphy says he has someone to fill an important void. “By the grace of God, my mother married a wonderful, solid man who gave me all the right qualities. That’s extremely important. It makes a big difference.”

As a teenager, Murphy was a master impersonator and was convinced he could become a star. His success in New York’s stand-up club scene led to an appearance on SNL, and soon after, he was heard on the silver screen. Murphy responded in history-making fashion. Because, in his words, “When I’m trying to be funny, I’m funny.”

When asked what it was like to work with Murphy on the 1988 film Coming to America, his longtime friend Arsenio Hall told PEOPLE, “It was very intimidating. Murphy was who he was. He was the ‘new sheriff’! It made me prepare and work harder. I braced myself so I didn’t get blown off the screen when the director called out the action.”

Murphy is also multifaceted. He is one of the few Hollywood actors to convincingly play multiple characters in the same movie, such as in “Coming to America” and “The Nutty Professor.” In 2007, she won an Oscar for her supporting role in Dreamgirls, and again received critical acclaim for her role in 2019’s Dolemite Is My Name, about real-life comedian Rudy Ray Moore.

However, several projects failed over the years, including 1995’s widely criticized Vampire in Brooklyn. As he says in the documentary, “No one tries to make a bad movie.” The harsh criticism he received particularly stung from his comedy alma mater SNL (“Look, kids, this is a falling star,” David Spade infamously joked from his desk on the show’s Hollywood Minute while showing a photo of Murphy). He says that’s why he didn’t return to the 30 Rock stage for years.

The star buried his long-held ax in 2019, returning to host the show for the first time since 1984 with help from fellow superstar comedians Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan. Murphy calls it a “full circle moment.” “I have an affinity for comedians, so it’s great to see the influence you’ve had on other artists,” he says.

His kinship was so strong, he says in the film, that he financed the burials of heroes who had unfortunately died. “When Red (Fox) got kicked out, I had to bury Red. I had to bury Rick (James). I bought Buckwheat (Thomas) a headstone.” But the biggest loss was that of his older brother, comedian Charlie Murphy, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 57 after a battle with leukemia. The only time Murphy’s face turns emotional in the new film is when discussing the pain of that loss.

These days, his greatest asset is the large family he has created for himself. Murphy and his first wife, Nicole, had five adult children and divorced in 2006, 13 years later. Murphy has three children with other relationships and two more with Butcher.

“It just happened,” he says of how he ended up having so many children between the ages of 36 and 6. “10 I never thought I’d have so many kids, but now this is the best thing. If you can afford to have that many kids, you should have as many as you can afford. It’s fun, isn’t it?” But most importantly, “all of my kids are decent human beings. I don’t have any rotten kids, and I like to think they got some of that from me.”

Murphy, who watched his son Eric, 36, marry fellow comedian Martin Lawrence’s daughter Jasmine, 29, earlier this year, was asked what he is happiest about right now. Murphy replied: “Just being Eddie. Having my family by my side. I love it and I’m glad I’ve been in this great business for so long, coming from such humble beginnings and just being around and seeing all the changes and everything. Be happy.”