Barry Keoghan Shares How Fatherhood Transformed Him Through His Son Brando
Barry Keoghan has shared how becoming a parent has transformed him.
In a campaign video for proposed reforms in children’s care in the U.K., featuring U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, which was posted on Facebook on January 17, Keoghan, 32, made rare comments regarding his role as a father to his 2-year-old son, Brando, with ex-girlfriend Alyson Sandro.
The Saltburn actor expressed to Lammy, 52, that fatherhood prompted him to reflect deeply on his own parents. “As I’ve grown older and became a father myself, I realized how challenging it was for her [Keoghan’s mother] and my dad. Thankfully, there was a supportive care system in place, which is incredibly significant,” Keoghan stated. (Keoghan lost his mother to a heroin overdose when he was 12, according to The Irish Post.)
“You can utilize your public platform to highlight important issues, and anything related to children and care is something I’m always eager to address and bring attention to,” Keoghan further added.
Keoghan’s recent remarks come after he defended himself against online claims of being a “deadbeat dad.” In a September 2024 appearance on “The Louis Theroux Podcast,” he addressed the hurtful comments posted by online trolls.
“There’s a lot of chatter online. If I didn’t have tough skin or resilience, I wouldn’t be sitting here,” Keoghan told host Louis Theroux. “Naturally, [his upbringing] impacts my role as a father, especially since I lacked a blueprint to follow. Some interpret that as laziness and say, ‘Oh, that’s no excuse for being an absent father.’ I am not an absent father.”
The allegations are thought to have arisen from an earlier interview where Keoghan discussed his relationship with Brando. “I’ll just say this—I didn’t have a father figure in my life, so my connection with my son isn’t exactly the typical father-son dynamic because I don’t have that role model to draw from,” Keoghan revealed during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 12.
During his conversation with Theroux, 54, he remarked, “People tend to weaponize my son for their own agenda. It actually leads me to share less online about him because I believe it’s not fair to put my child in the public eye. As I’ve scaled back, people create narratives and label me as an ‘absent father,’ ‘lazy,’ or worse things that I wouldn’t even dignify by repeating. The audacity of some individuals truly sickens me and angers me.”
Keoghan and Sandro, a dental nurse and orthodontic therapist, met in early 2021 but ended their relationship in the summer of 2023.
