Russell Crowe feels dad guilt for not spending enough time with his sons when they were younger
The Oscar-winning actor's two boys are now 14 and 16.
Gladiator star Russell Crowe has opened up about family life and the guilt he feels over being away from home on film sets and not spending enough time with Charles, 16, and Tennyson, 14, while they were growing up.
Speaking to The Kyle and Jackie O Show the 56-year-old actor said it “worried him greatly” that he’d missed out on his kids childhood while he was making blockbuster movies.
“I look back, and I think I should have given more time [to my children]. It’s tricky. I have this big job, and my entire work life takes place overseas,” Russell told the KISS radio hosts.
“It worries me greatly that I didn’t spend enough time with them.”
The Beautiful Mind actor went on to explain that even filming in Australia made little difference as he’d “leave before they got up” and his boys would be in bed asleep before he returned home.
“If you’re on a big movie like Robin Hood and you’re physically getting the crap beaten out of you every week, you come to the weekend, and all they [his sons] see of you is this lump on the couch,” he said.
The New Zealand born star says he is in a good place with his teenage sons and will be looking to work more in his homeland of Australia.
“I can’t cover the holes I made then, but I can certainly work on having less distance in the future,” he explained.
“They’re in a good place now, but going forward, I really feel like I’ve got to start working in Australia.”
In 2010, Russell Crowe received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was joined by his then-wife, Danielle Spencer and sons Tennyson, three, and Charles, six.
Russell Crowe shares his two sons with ex-wife Danielle Spencer, 51. In 2018, the pair got divorced after 15 years of marriage.
The singer and actress told Stellar magazine earlier this month that she prioritised raising the kids and Russell’s career over her own.
“It was difficult because I always felt that to keep our family together both of us couldn’t be working and there came a point where I had to prioritise the kids,” she said.
“Obviously Russell’s career was going gangbusters and I just felt like, “This is not my time.” I absolutely love being a mother and I wouldn’t change a thing, but I didn’t feel I could prioritise my career for a while there.”
“The kids needed a parent who was present,” explain the Sydney-based mum.
Russell says he looks back and thinks he “should have given more time” to his children.
Russell is currently isolating at his rural property in Nana Glen in northern NSW and says the global pandemic has awarded him the privilege of staying at home.
“I know a lot of people have had hard times during this period, and I feel deeply for them, but my perspective, simply being able to stay at home, is such a privilege,” he told Kyle and Jackie O.
Recently, Russell compared life on his property to being in self-isolation and star of Unhinged says he nails it.
“The reason I bought this land in the bush in the first place is that I’ve been self-isolating on and off for the past three decades – and it turns out I’m rather good at it,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.