Patrick Stewart, 83, in 'significant grief' due to ‘non-existent’ relationship with his children
Patrick Stewart says he is 'pained by the memory' of his children, who are in their 50s now
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Patrick Stewart is lamenting the distance between him and his children. In a recent interview, the 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' actor, who shares Daniel and Sophie Alexandra Stewart with his first wife Sheila Falconer, acknowledged that he feels "significant grief" that they aren't in contact with him right now.
The 83-year-old confessed to a news outlet, "Given that I’m separated from my children now — we don’t have relationships — they have become very important."
Patrick Stewart regrets putting 'acting work before family'
He said, "I never thought that this would happen, but both my children are in their 50s." He added. "They’re not children anymore, they’re adults. And my relationship with them is practically non-existent," as reported by OK Magazine.
Stewart revealed what caused the brittle bonds between them to break: he "always put my acting work first, before my family."
Having grown older, he stated that "not a day goes by" that he isn't "pained by the memory of my children," adding that he feels "responsible" for the broken relationships as they were "in part because of me and my influence or lack of influence on them."
Stewart discusses tense relationships with children
In previous interviews, Stewart has discussed his tense relationships with his children and his experiences as a father. The actor from 'Logan' stated in a 2009 article that he "could've done better as a parent."
He said, "I was just obsessed with my work and everything else took second place. I’m trying to correct that now wherever possible with my grandchildren."
Patrick Stewart's marriages
Stewart got married to his first wife in 1966, but the couple divorced in 1990. The 'X-Men' actor disclosed that he became dependent on sleeping pills following his breakup with Falconer in his memoir, 'Making It So'.
They were necessary, he wrote, "to get me the hours of restoration I needed to do my job properly." Eventually, during a break from filming, he decided to stop taking them, but sleep became "impossible."
He claimed that upon waking up, he would experience a "full-body feeling of panic, my legs sweating profusely, which had never happened before and hasn't happened since."
He was married to Wendy Neuss for three years after his divorce from Falconer, from 2000 to 2003. Stewart married Sunny Ozell, his third wife, in 2013 and they are still together.
