Barry Keoghan is shutting down the accusations that he’s a “deadbeat dad.”
While appearing on Tuesday’s episode of “The Louis Theroux Podcast,” the “Saltburn” star, 32, got candid about the “disgusting” criticisms he’s received from internet trolls over his relationship with his 2-year-old son Brando, whom he shares with ex Alyson Sandro.
Keoghan explained that while he used to openly share photos of his baby boy online, he’s since stopped being as transparent with his personal life because “people love” to use his son as “ammunition.”
“People kind of have a judgment on me as a parent,” Keoghan said during the episode released on Nov. 5. “I’m like, well, until you’ve walked a day in my shoes growing up as a kid, then you can comment… There’s a lot online. If I didn’t have tough skin or the strength I have, I wouldn’t be sitting here.”
The Irish actor continued, “The more in the public I’ve become, the less I’ve posted about my child, because I don’t think it’s fair to put my child online, there’s sick people out there.”
Keoghan said since he’s “reined” in his posts about his son, internet trolls have begun to “draw a narrative and go ‘absent father, sh*t deadbeat dad’ and more disgusting things that I wouldn’t even repeat.”
“Just the audacity of some people, man, it sickens me more than it makes me furious,” he added.
Only one post remains on Keoghan’s Instagram account of his son at this time: an adorable selfie of the pair playing with toys.
ZOULERAH NORDDINE via Getty Images
Keoghan, who previously opened up to GQ about growing up in Dublin, Ireland, without a father and losing his mother at age 12 after she died of a heroin overdose, shared how judgment over his parenting skills has emotionally impacted him.
“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,’” he said during the podcast interview.
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Keoghan then insisted, “I’m not an absent father.”
The “Eternals” alum said that the cyberbullying has extended to comments about his appearance.
“Especially on TikTok… 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,” he shared.
Elsewhere in the interview, Keoghan played coy about his rumored relationship with pop star Sabrina Carpenter. He broke the internet over the summer after appearing in her “Please Please Please” music video.
“All I’m gonna say is, yeah, I’m incredibly blessed,” he said of the singer. “Such a strong, independent lady who’s massively talented and yeah, very special.”
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