Taron Egerton has opened up about his estranged relationship with his father. The 36-year-old actor was born in Birkenhead, but moved to Wales when he was aged two after his parents divorced.
The Rocket Man star's dad ran a bed and breakfast in Liverpool and Taron said he remained in contact while he was growing up. However, the actor has now cut ties with his father. He spoke about their relationship on the latest episode of the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast.
What Taron said about his father
He said: “My father and I, when I was growing up, were able to maintain a fairly kind of functional relationship. As I got older, that became more difficult and I haven’t spoken to him for a number of years now.
“I’m reluctant to talk in too much detail about him because he’s living his own life and doing his own thing. I’ll always love him. I do love him. I just don’t think we work very well in terms of our relationship. So, there was a point where I pushed the ejector seat and haven’t seen him since.”
His childhood and career influences
Taron told how he was shaped by being raised by a single parent, adding: “In hindsight, I think being raised by a single mum who was pursuing a degree and trying to make ends meet… looking back, I think I was possibly a little more anxious than I was aware of until quite recently. But she was a great mum; I never felt that I wanted anything or missed anything.”
Taron praised some of the peers he has worked with in his career as he said Kingsman co-star, Colin Firth, was like a "fatherly figure". He said: “Colin was amazing. I remember I was going through a difficult time. I broke up with my first girlfriend and I was like really aggressively partying to deal with it and was coming in, in like a bad way. I remember there were a couple of days on Kingsman where [director] Matt [Vaughn] was like, ‘you’re going home. I can’t film you today’.”
But Taron said co-star Colin was always a beacon of support. He said: “He was always lovely to me. When he saw the movie, I always remember what he texted me. He said, ‘you are note perfect’. He’s such a generous, kind man.”
Future plans and career highlights
The actor issued an update on his future plans as he said he would love to make another instalment of the film series because it “would be fun to get to ride with Colin once more”.
After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Taron rose to fame in the Kingsman films, before he went on to star in other movies including Testament Of Youth, Eddie The Eagle and Rocketman, which earned him a Golden Globe award for best actor playing Elton John.
He was one of four nominees in the Best Lead Actor category at the BAFTA TV Awards to hail from Merseyside heritage. James Nelson-Joyce, Stephen Graham and Ellis Howard were also up for the award. Stephen picked up the prize for his performance in Adolescence.
