Father-of-eight Stellan Skarsgard refuses to give parenting advice to his kids because it’s “very dangerous”.
Stellan Skarsgard has opened up about parenting
The Dune star, 74, is dad to six grown-up children – Alexander, 49, Gustaf, 44, Sam, 43, Bill, 35, Eija, 33, and Valter, 29 – with his first wife My Skarsgard as well as Ossian, 16, and Kolbjorn, 13, with his second wife Megan Everett and he is also now a grandfather but he’s adamant he won’t be passing on any of his wisdom about raising families.
He told PEOPLE: “I haven’t given them [his kids] any advice at all because it is very dangerous to do.
“Because if they listen to my advice and they’re successful, it’s because of me, and if they listen to my advice and they’re not successful, it’s my fault. So it’s a lose-lose situation.”
He added of his children: “Watching the characters and seeing how different they are. Even if they have the same genes, it’s amazing how different they are.
“All my eight kids, they’re very different too. There are some things in common, but they all have personalities.”
Four of Stellan’s older children have followed him into the acting industry and his two youngest boys are also keen on forging careers in Hollywood with Kolbjorn recently making his acting debut in 2022 miniseries Clark.
However, Stellan previously admitted the youngster has been given a tough time over his famous family connections by bullies at school who branded him a “nepo baby”.
Stellan told Vulture: “My 13-year-old, Kolbjörn, the youngest, suffers from that. “When his pals at school call him nepo baby, he gets so sad. He doesn’t have any friends at school.
“He gets isolated. Cruel kids – or cruel and ignorant. They love it on the internet. But it is such a bulls*** thing. Because nobody would hire you, at least not for anything good, if you’re not good enough.”
He went on to insist his kids have benefitted from his passion for his work, adding: “Your work is you to such a big extent. It’s not like being an accountant.
“If you’re a painter, if you’re a musician, you go to work with you and your own material. Combining that with family life is hard.
“But if you become a really good father and you are at home more than you want to be, then suddenly you reduce yourself …
“You’ve become some other person. It’s like you would think differently. You would act differently. You need your creative art. It’s your stimuli.
“And you are more fun to the kids when you come home and tell them a story that you can’t tell them if you haven’t been stimulated. I’m trying to defend myself now.”
