“When my mother would start teasing my father—and of course, in front of the children, it didn’t matter to her—he, strangely enough, remained stoic and never, even though she treated him to terrible things, would just stand there and watch her while she inflicted pain on him, and he swallowed it. He accepted it.”The actor recalled that his father never once lost his temper, attacked his mother, or even spoke harshly to her. Several times, the situation escalated to the point where his father had tears in his eyes as he watched her silently. The worst thing his father did was punch a wall with his fist—once so hard that his hand shattered on the hard concrete—but he never touched her or argued with her. Despite this, according to the star, he remained a gentleman.
“As a five-year-old, I kept wondering: why does he put up with this? How does he put up with this? And why doesn’t he leave her? But he didn’t. He was able to stay calm and composed. He was able to maintain relationships with children. He’s a good man.”
He started taking pills at age 11.
Eventually, his father left the family, telling his son he couldn’t live like that anymore.
His parents separated when he was 15. Although he initially considered his father’s departure “cowardly,” he later realized his father had simply made a decision he believed was best for himself.After the divorce, his mother’s condition continued to deteriorate.
