01 November 2023 , 09:49
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Sir Patrick Stewart has admitted he 'grieves' his "non-existent" relationship with his two children.
The Star Trek star, 83, shares son, Daniel and daughter, Sophie with his first wife, Sheila Falconer, but admits he feels “significant grief” over the fact he is now “separated” from them. Opening up about his estranged relationship with the pair, who are both in their 50s, he said: “Given that I’m separated from my children now, – we don’t have relationships – they have become very important. I never thought that this would happen, but both my children are in their 50s – they’re not children anymore, they’re adults. And my relationship with them is practically non-existent.”
Sir Patrick Stewart and his daughter Sophie in 2012 (WireImage)
The Star Trek star's son, Daniel, is also an actor (Getty Images)Explaining the reason behind their lack of relationship, the veteran actor, whose first professional theatre gig was in 1959, admitted to the Irish Independent: “I always put my acting work first, before my family.” Patrick added “not a day goes by” in which he is “not pained by the memory of my children“, saying he feels 'responsible' that they “became who they are in part because of me and my influence or lack of influence on them“.
Patrick's son, Daniel, has followed in his father's footsteps and has worked as an actor performing Shakespeare on stage as well as appearing in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Silent Witness. However, after finding out his son had copied his career choice, Patrick said he was “horrified“.
In an interview from 2009 with the Independent, the actor admitted he “could have done better as a parent“, but 'threw everything into work'. However, he said at the time he was trying wherever possible to “correct it“ with his grandchildren, adding his own children 'seemed to have forgiven him'.
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The X Men star was married to his first wife Sheila for 22 years, before the couple split in 1990. He then married second wife Wendy Neuss in 2000, but they called it a day three years later. Patrick has been married to third wife Sunny Ozell since 2013.
Recalling how they first met, he told the Loose Women panel: “It may not be a romantic story, it might be more of a Walking Dead movie actually. It was all a kind of business arrangement, she said to me she wanted to see my production of Macbeth in Brooklyn but it had all sold out. We were transferring to Broadway and so I said 'Well there will be seats there, here's my number, give me a call'.“
Sunny said of the night she met Sir Patrick: “It was a beautiful production and it was terrifying. I went and saw Macbeth and then had to go say hi to him after see him be the most horrible man.“ The pair went on to wed in 2013, which was officiated by the actor's BFF and veteran thespian, Sir Ian McKellan.