Barry Keoghan has voiced his disgust over comments labeling him a “deadbeat dad.”
The 32-year-old Irish actor, who welcomed a son with ex-girlfriend Alyson Kierans in 2022, is well aware of the criticisms circulating online about his parenting. Earlier this year, a comment he made about not being a “traditional” dad went viral, leading to waves of judgment online.
“People kind of have a judgment on me as a parent, and I’m like, ‘Well, until you’ve walked a day in my shoes growing up as a kid… then you can comment,’” he shared in a candid November 2024 interview with Louis Theroux.
Having opened up previously about growing up without a father figure, Barry acknowledges the online chatter but is determined to protect his family from its impact.
“If I didn’t have tough skin or the strength, I wouldn’t be sitting here,” he said. “[But], of course, it’s going to affect me. Being a father when I had no blueprint to take from, people just read that as laziness and go, ‘Oh, that’s no excuse to be an absent father.’ But I am not an absent father.”
He continued, “But it’s just, again, people love to use my son as ammunition or whatever.”
Barry explained that as his public profile grew, he became increasingly cautious about posting his child online: “I don’t think it’s fair to put my child online.”
“And because I reined that in, people draw a narrative and go, ‘absent father, shit, deadbeat dad,’ and more disgusting things I wouldn’t even repeat. Just the audacity of some people, man. It sickens me, makes me furious.”
Theroux also asked Barry about the comments on his “distinct” appearance, which the *Saltburn* actor finds “absolutely disgusting.” He admitted to looking up what people say about him on social media: “It’s sad to kind of pick someone’s appearance apart. Especially on this TikTok as well.”
“People can sit there and make videos and be like, ‘I don’t like his face,’ ‘He looks weird’ or ‘He looks evil’ and just pick you apart … It’s lucky I have tough skin, to be honest. A movie comes out, and people can just really judge you and pick you apart online sometimes. It’s just sad to see people like that.”
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