Anthony Hopkins Hasnt Spoken To His Daughter In 20 Years, Says He Doesnt Care

He may be an Oscar-winning Hollywood actor, but behind his cheery exterior, Sir Anthony Hopkins has been hiding a dark family past.

This Tuesday, the 80-year-old told Radio Times that he has not spoken to his only daughter, Abigail Harrison, 48, in 20 years. He doesn’t even know where she lives, or if she has children!

“People break up. Families split and, you know, ‘get on with your life.’ People make choices. I don’t care one way or the other. It is cold. Because life is cold,” the actor said.

RadarOnline.com has learned Harrison changed her surname in hopes of making it in the film industry without her father’s help. She is now an actress and theater director.

While the two have been estranged for most of Harrison’s life, they briefly reconnected in the ’90s, when she starred in two of his hit films. Afterward, their relationship fell through once again, and they haven’t spoken since.

“Children don’t like their fathers, you don’t have to love each other,” Sir Anthony Hopkins continued, adding that he’s happier than ever living in Malibu with his third wife.

That's not his daughter, that's him in a fright wig!

I haven’t spoken to my mother in 20 years. Sometimes it’s just better that way.

Most successful people are successful because they cut everyone out of their lives, especially family.

Wow. I find this a bit shocking. I wonder what the real story is. I say this because Anthony used to stay for months on end at a fancy hotel I used to wait tables when I was in college (1999-2002). I waited on him scores of times over the years. While we weren't friends, I did get to know him pretty well - in that regular diner/waiter sort of way that often happens. He even invited me to set a few times. A really great guy. Easily the friendliest, kindest celeb I ever waited on.

Actor should not be parents; they don't know how.

They dont' know how to be friends either.

He has Aspergers . Enough said.. And he is BIG in AA.

Proof Aspies have no ability to bond and are phonies .

I should have left my family at an early age and never seen them again. Period.

This must be a daughtery question they asked him as he's about to appear on British TV in a tv film of King Lear in a fortnight ( directed by Man who did Notes on A Scandal)

Emma Thomson is one of the daughters I remember from the trailer, think Emily Watson is another. I can kind of understand, just because your born or make a family, doesn't mean you will like or love them and vice versa

She didn’t taste good with fava beans.

[quote]Most successful people are successful because they cut everyone out of their lives, especially family.

Worked for me.

Nigel, head Butler: "You're Majesty, there's a call for you from a woman named Doria."

MM-W: "Name doesn't ring a bell. Tell her to never call again or I'll have the police after her. And slam the phone down hard."

Family matters are everyone’s business

He is sought after speaker in AA ... Wow! No self awareness and or empathy .

What is sad is that she says nice things about him.

r5 People are often kinder to strangers than their own relatives.

What family doesn't have their ups and downs?

Exceot in cases of extreme abuse, children should have gratitude for the people who gave them life. So what if your parents weren’t the nicest or easiest people in the world? Get over it. It’s called being a grown up.

He's always been a cold fish, he makes no bones about it. Brilliant actor, shitty parent, it's not that shocking.

They tried to reconcile and she got two movie roles out of him before she got greedy. After that he was done.

Unfortunately the daughter is more grown up than her father.

One can be spurned by one's family and realize years later that it was a gift. If I'd been forced to be on friendly terms with my relatives I would not be as happy or successful. I've only gratitude for this permanent separation.

I don’t care about Anthony Hopkins’s life.

Imagine if a woman says this...

People have such a fixation on families being connected. I had friends that could never understand my not wanting to have anything to do with my family. They were not nice people (when it came to me) I had a younger half brother that was loving and sweet but my older brother, mother and step-father hated me. I had the great sin of being a sissy to tarnish and shame the family. It's just how I was born, climbed out of the womb with castanets and sparkle skirt with a twirl. They were convinced I acted this way on purpose to embarrass them. When I got to age 8 and figured it out, I tried to "butch it up" without too much success.

At one point, because of my younger brother, I thought of trying to patch things up (they never tried to contact me - they were happy I was out) but I knew that even if we were on good behavior for awhile, eventually the old patterns would re-emerge and we'd fall back into the old ways. It was [italic]ingrained[/italic] in all of us.

Not everybody loves family just because they are related by blood. If it's a horror story it is best to separate and live out your own lives.

[quote]Imagine if a woman says this...

Yes, I had the same thought. Men walk away from their kids all the time, and are still considered 'good'. If a woman does it, she's a monster.

Mind you, I actually subscribe to R28's views for the most part. Some families are just toxic. Nevertheless, the double standard is there.

Yes yes yes. Justify not working through your problems. He's a weird guy. Jodie Foster said they never had one conversation ever during filming The Silence of The Lambs. She never met him at all. AA people are very big on blaming their behavior on people places and things. It's much like scientology - a paranoid cult where your only loyalty is to your "disease", your obsessions and your higher power. There's a chip missing in Hopkins. It's not so much gossip as it's evident in everything he says and does. Very good actor but of course he's disaffected in his characterizations too.

[quote] If a woman does it, she's a monster.

Women are socialized into the roles of carer/nurturer. Men aren't.

Wow R11, Reddit is Aspies central. Dated one and he always had the tab open. That and some comic forum. Bye!

Gawd, imagine having an Aspies dad? The lack of empathy. The "shyness" as they sometimes call it until a grandkid comes down with a raging case of autism? I know a family like this. All goes back to the weird father from Germany. Everyone just thought he was being German in the neighborhood. Such a strange man with a gambling addiction. Does really well at his card games every Friday night because he has the best "poker face". Yeah, now we know why. I feel for his wife not only because one of her two daughters is an aspie Extraordinaire but the more normal, older daughter got hit hard with an autistic son. My mom used to say about the parents "That's not a marriage" but I never knew why. Now we all know.

It’s different when people split from parents and or siblings than a parent splitting from their offspring.

[quote]Jodie Foster said they never had one conversation ever during filming The Silence of The Lambs.

May have contributed to the difficulty of breaking through his character and both characters’ connection - disconnection issues. He may have been doing both their performances a favor in that particular case. It worked, as both won academy awards.

Doesn’t necessarily justify the daughter thing. That’s another issue altogether, but still maybe for the best.

Some people have no feel for parenting.

He just doesn’t like what is on her IPod.

The Meghan Markle haters should read this thread.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

I no know what that man did. But he is dangerous, and he is evil.

That's some heavy shit, being named Petronella.

[quote]That's some heavy shit, being named Petronella

I'll bet she gets invited to a lot of outdoor parties.

r42 oh look we have a psychic kween

There are real psychics in this world, but maybe R42 was just guessing? I am a real psychic, I could reveal a lot about you R45. Psychics seldom use the word evil to describe someone. We are all spirits on a human journey.

r46 of course you are crazy lady

R46 Let's put your psychic skills to the test. I'll share this; I am estranged from my birth family (except for one sibling) because they are toxic and were very abusive to me especially during my childhood. I would never have put them through that and cut off all contact 18 yrs ago if they were decent, loving people who cared about me. Now my adult daughter has connected with her grandmother and consequently cut me off (my vicious mother turned her against me) several years ago and I have never seen my two little grandchildren. Heartbroken. Will my daughter and/or at least one of my two grandchildren ever contact me? BTW, I already know the answer.

R48. Yes, you are correct. You know the answer. Also have that other thing looked into. There are more messages for you but I need more time and a place outside of this traffic. You can access all of your questions and recover some hope for your grandchildren ( you have omitted the problems YOU had with your daughter) relationship with a one on one Skype or you can paypal me and I will respond immediately with the answers and WARNINGS regarding your family situation and the OTHER thing. You have been deeply hurt but there is still deceit around you that constricts air flow. I sense some breathing difficulties or undiagnosed lung cancer. Don't delay. I am here to help. Much of your story is a lie but this health warning comes through very strong for you. I have more information. I charge $50 per half hour. I am not soliciting and neither were you.

[quote]That's some heavy shit, being named Petronella

[quote]I'll bet she gets invited to a lot of outdoor parties.

At the very least the openings of new gas stations.

Interesting R11, since Asberger’s isn’t a diagnosis anymore and everyone is now on the autism spectrum.

I've known Tony for decades so imagine how laugh out loud funny this thread has been to read.

^ I think AH (Ass Hole) plays the part of a psychopath so well because he is a psychopath. My mother is a diagnosed psychopath and having been raised by one I can spot these people even if I've never met them personally. It's more likely that his daughter cut off contact as soon as she could. Or if he stopped talking to her she was relieved. They make the absolute worst parents.

Thank you R49. As a matter of fact I am having breathing problems and am on medication for it. However, my daughter estranged from me 5 yrs ago, not recently. I don't know what deceit there could be as I have no contact with my birth family. I doubt my 90 yr old mother left me in the will (she's in a nursing home) but if she did there could be deceit around that as my greedy, abusive siblings whom I am estranged from may have strong-armed her to keep me out of the will as I estranged from her 18 yrs ago, not recently. I am not expecting anything anyway. So not sure about the deceit.

But thank you for your reply. You were right. Nail on the head. There is something going on with my lungs even though I am a non-smoker. I am going to see the doctor again in two weeks. Although you didn't say if my daughter, or at least one of my two grandchildren, will ever contact me.

Not trying to be a dick R54, but you cut out ALL of your mother and other family (save the one person), then, a generation later, your daughter cut you off.

I think maybe you might be more like your mother than you care to admit.

Oops!!!

Should read: ...but you cut out your mother and other family...

^ My mother and two of my siblings are very abusive. As I mentioned my mother is a diagnosed psychopath. My sister and I have nothing to do with them. My youngest brother, who was a really good person, would still be in my life had he not died. He didn't survive the abuse and toxic environment and OD'd on heroin which he was taking to kill the emotional pain. He also had AIDS. He engaged in risky behavior because he had lost the will to live. My daughter went (against my wishes) to see my mother shortly after she got married. She wanted answers, and my mother used that to establish trust with her and a relationship started up. That's how psychopaths operate. They are very calculating and cunning. And pathological liars too. My mother, along with my two toxic siblings, all of whom I had to estrange from, turned my daughter against me. End of story.

You must heed the call not of forgiveness but of refrain. Your mind is troubled and transfixed though you may not be wrong about much. The deeper meanings are beyond your comprehension because you are attached to labels and disease. You must integrate this past with your actual life. We are endless but this life is finite. Mothers do not leave daughters easily but your daughter was seeking more truth and comfort. I am not so interested in the family dynamics and psychopathic labels that you describe. Like other human concepts used to name and categorize pain and fear it is of little use in my work. You have a lot of work to do with your children and light to be directed to your own path. Anger cannot relieve pain, but it is a block to your own contentment. I will tell you more later.

“Children don’t like their fathers, you don’t have to love each other,” Sir Anthony Hopkins continued, adding that he’s happier than ever living in Malibu with his third wife.

What a dick! Reminds me of Ryan O'Neal, someone posted a VF article about Ryan and Farrah and when asked about his kids, he of course starts trashing them in an attempt to absolve himself if responsibility for the way they turned out and he said about one (the relatively normal one I think) "I don't like him, he's unlikeable."

What a couple of assholes!

I read some years back that Hopkins liked to get in his car and just drive away on trips by himself on the spur of the moment. He'd pack a bag and take off from LA until he got tired, then turn around and come back. On one such journey he ended up in Colorado before returning.

I don't know if he still does this but it fits a pattern of behavior -- the need to escape from life, others, himself.

Fucking Tom Cruise Troll at it again

There's no reason why family members should love each other.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

"I read some years back that Hopkins liked to get in his car and just drive away on trips by himself on the spur of the moment. He'd pack a bag and take off from LA until he got tired, then turn around and come back. On one such journey he ended up in Colorado before returning.

I don't know if he still does this but it fits a pattern of behavior -- the need to escape from life, others, himself"

Typical Aspie

He is a also a sought out speaker in AA. Imagine that

I thought AA was anonymous so how do we k ow he is AA famous? Ans if he is so peaceful and accepting, why does he not have a relationship with his daughter?

Hopkins second wife was very manipulative. She was a production assistant, very plain and did everything she could to make him dependent on her. She no doubt kept him away from the daughter when she was little and he could have bonded with her.

wow, she looks just like him!

wow, she looks just like him!

I know - can you imagine being a woman and having people say to you "you know who you remind me of...Hannibal Lecter!" (as they slowly back away). I wouldn't speak to my dad either if that was the case.

Who knows what the real story is - I read the article and he just sounds like a very odd bird/cold fish - not unlike his character in Remains of the Day. I guessing at least you have to give the guy credit in that he's honest, no matter how ugly it is. He's not the typical actor that wants the public to love them

They used to fuck when she was younger and when he tried to end it she went NUTS

In one of the older gossip threads a poster claimed the Hopkins attended fisting parties in L.A in the late 90s.

Good for him. She's not a toddler. He didn't abandon her. I'm surprised more parents don't cut off their kids if they don't get along or if they just don't like them. Enjoy your life and be happy, Mr. Hopkins. You don't owe anybody shit.

I was just wondering the same thing R38.

R75- David Hogg bitch face .

[quote]Jodie Foster said they never had one conversation ever during filming The Silence of The Lambs.

Jodie Foster supposedly barely gave anything to Brooke Smith while they were shooting Brooke's angle in the scene where Brooke is in the pit. (Foster was off camera delivering her lines more or less the way a script supervisor would, flatly. It really affected Brooke who didn't have much acting experience on film).

This is really sad. It's one thing to stop talking to your parents, another to abandon your child as it seems he did. All this talk about cutting out toxic family members here but it sounds like Hopkins was always a shitty father.

If a parent or sibling is toxic and abusive they really should be cut-off permanently, sooner than later, and never allowed back in. same for an adult child. Common sense 101.

I am referring specifically to where there is a pattern of this toxic, abusive behavior. Not a misunderstanding or disagreement or out of character behavior one day. *A pattern* where one doesn't need to be a genius to see that although they aren't toxic most of the time or every day, there's still a pattern of emotional abuse and that it's not getting better.

Plus he was a drunk for many years before his luck changed with TSOTL. Drunks are typically lousy parents anyway. They reconnected briefly in the 90s but it all fell apart again. Hope they reconnect but it doesn’t sound likely. He’d probably have to be on his death bed or something.

[quote]Wow [R11], Reddit is Aspies central. Dated one and he always had the tab open. That and some comic forum. Bye!

Well we all know heavy use o this form marks one as well-adjusted.

R78 maybe Jodie should have avoided ever speaking to her co-stars. The only actor she ever had any sexual chemistry with was Hopkins.

"I'll help you ignore him, Clarice."

We don't know the whole story, darlings. Who knows what kind of fucked up relationship they had/have.

God, that picture of Hopkins as Hannibal is creepy. Those piercing eyes and the smug expression. {{shivers}}

R78, isn't that on Demme? He's the director and the guy who cast Brooke.

actual ly, wasn't their whole scene just the Senators daughter calling Clarice a fucking cunt?

I always thought Jake Shears had a Hannibal look to him.

[quote]AA people are very big on blaming their behavior on people places and things. It's much like scientology...

HUH?

You sound deranged. Of course in 30+ years of sober experience, exactly the opposite is true and observable.

Always thought this guy was a massively overrated actor.Mads did a much better Hannibal. Now I learn he's a cunt too. Quelle surprise.

And to learn that he's an AA head who believes in a Higher Power...that's icing on the cake.

He may have been a fucked up and terribly neglectful father, but he is an *amazing* actor; the two things are not mutually exclusive.

His performance in just “The Remains of the Day” alone is haunting and spectacular. It gets me every single time.

So, horrible father (probably never wanted to be a father in the first place) but wonderful actor.

Maybe his AA sponsor told him to cut out the daughter? They tell people to quit their jobs, after all.

I think it is unhealthy to carry resentment and anger around with you. I was estranged from my family for many years. Including my parents. But I have repaired that as much as it can be repaired and my mother and I had many good years together. When she passed away I was peaceful and I still am. I'm older now and have more understanding of her as a person. I think sometimes we have to step back and get passed the fact that this person is a "Mother" or any other label, and just look at the person and be more forgiving. This doesn't mean you excuse unacceptable behavior. It just means you are allowing yourself to be free from the toxicity. Our Psychic can verify my story.

Will also add that society assigns a set of expectations around the labels of Mother or Father and a lot of people don't get it or cannot live up to what they think is expected of that role.

BTW I think I recall reading about Christopher Plummer being an absolute bastard for a very long time to his wives, his kids etc. Now of course no one eems to mention that and he is lauded and applauded. I think though, in all honesty, Hopkins is an odd duck. And yes, much easier to be kind to strangers than to deal with someone who may have the right to expect something from you.

He's as gay as a tractor.

He's an Aspie. He really doesn't care.

His King Lear for the BBC last weekend was awful. His acting was very good though

r100 Maybe the Lear father-daughter drama hit him pretty close to home.

R91 I agree Mads was better at Hannibal

R100 so was he good as Lear or terrible? I saw him as Lear at the National back in the 80s. It was a good production and he was totally nuts as Lear.

FF for bumping this thread to add your idiocy.

R21 I got that one! Funny. Anyone else recognize the reference?

For reasons that are well known to her.

all the women who have come in and out of his life since his first marriage know that despite all his money and fame, it just wouldn't be worth having a child with him

That says all you need to know about him. Even the gold diggers go running for the hills when he comes around

He can't even be bothered trying to say something decent about his daughter

I had a shitty family that I cut off in the early 1990s, but I don't slag them off to the public

Chadwick's PR people must have dug this old thread up.

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