Listening to Colin Farrell speak is my new favorite pastime. The last time we covered him, he spoke intelligently and at length about the historic popular vote in Ireland which legalized gay marriage. There’s nothing better than hearing a hot guy with an accent passionately share my same political views.
As part of his new gig for Dolce & Gabbana’s Intenso cologne (that sounds like a parody name, right?) and in honor of Father’s day, Colin talked about the joys and fears of being a dad. He was just as thoughtful and introspective as you might expect. Colin is father to two boys including James Padraig Farrell, 12, from his relationship with model Kim Bordenave. James has a developmental disorder called Angelman syndrome, which Colin has spoken about publicly in order to increase funding and awareness. He also has a five year-old son, Henry Tadeusz Farrell, from his relationship with Polish actress Alicja Bachleda-Curuś.
Here’s some of what Colin said about being a dad. You can see the video of Colin’s interview on E! Online.
It’s incredibly complicated, I find it, to be a father because I have no idea what I’m doing. I haven’t read any books but I know that if I did they would just confound me even more. There is no direct science to it. Because like art and like life it is the most extreme exercise in trial and error because the consequences are so great… not grave but great.
It can be a terrifying thing—but also there’s a great liberation in being a father, if I can speak from a point of self-interest for a second. Because for the first time in your life you are not the most important thing in your world. For the first time in your life you really have an understanding of what it is to love unconditionally. And it’s a pretty extraordinary gift.
I enjoy my boys. They’re fun. They’re good dudes. I have two very lovely, lovely human beings that look to me for help and assistance. Can you imagine? They’re doomed.
It’s a lot of fun. I’m very excited to see where they go in their lives… just observe the path that they’re on and maybe help them with some direction but stay out of the way as much as I can as well.
There’s a kind of poetry to Colin’s turns of phrase, and you get the sense that he’s a deep thinker. I do wonder how involved he is in his boys’ lives, but we don’t hear much about his private life so it’s hard to tell. It’s obvious he cares deeply about them.
Colin isn’t starring in as many movies as he used to and I hope he has a kind of resurgence with True Detective. He doesn’t get enough love around here and in general, I think. (Update: Kaiser has covered episode one. She gave it mixed reviews.) Kaiser will be covering the first episode of True Detective a little later. I’m so excited to watch it!
Here’s Colin’s ad for Dolce and Gabbana’s Intenso. He’s always so smoldering, but this ad is a miss. It sounds like a fake cologne on The Simpsons. WHO NAMED THIS?
Photo credit: Getty Images, WENN, FameFlynet and Dolce & Gabbana
Honking for more Colin! Love him! So much so that I can even forgive the flip flops with the suit from the last posting
I’m glad fatherhood is such a great experience, and I know you can be a good father without living with your child. But maybe stop having babies with every woman you date and be in a stable relationship before choosing parenthood? Is that just a thing of the past?
He’s had two babies in twelve years. How is that having a child with every woman he dates? Unless he’s had only two dates in thirteen years, which seems incredibly unlikely.
Long term romantic relationships aren’t for everybody. But I don’t think that should preclude one from being a father, or mother.
Seems kinda selfish to bring life into this world when you have no intention of being a daily part of their life though.
Isn’t parenthood supposed to be about sacrificing your own childish and impulsive desires for the greater good?
Agree LB.He’s not Jude Law after all.
No one knows how a relationship will end up. People usually start with the best intentions but sometimes are not meant to be together forever.
It’s better to be apart than fight all the time and be sad in front of the kids.
Also you can live in the same house and still have no desire to be part in your kids life (see Kim kardashian).
Ok, so maybe I exaggerated that part. I’m in this situation – my two nieces, aged 21 and 23, neither of which had finished college or had a job, both just had children with their boyfriends. They are just so blasé about it, and it has made me think about this a lot. On one hand, my God, I love those precious little babies. I can’t get enough of them and they have helped to heal our family from a horrible tragedy we had last year year. I don’t care how they got here, and I’m thankful to have them in my life. On the other hand – what’s best for them? Neither girl wants to marry the father, though both still live with them. I see the babies getting attached and I wonder what they will feel when the father eventually leaves, which he probably will. They will survive, I know, but I hate to see them hurt. And I just think if those girls had waited until they were in stable relationships, there would be a better chance, though no guarantee, that they would have their fathers in their house with them. So I didn’t mean to take it out on Colin, but I just don’t get this casual baby making. It’s a serious decision, and it should be treated as such.
BB King had 15 kids with 15 different women!!!
I understand what you are saying, GNAT. I don’t get casual baby making either. It’s a human life after all!
An ex-friend of mine who knew him at the time of the birth of his first son says that the mother told him that she was on the pill, but wasn’t. And he had, apparently, every intention of marrying the second babymomma, but they broke up first. Heck, it’s like I don’t know anyone who gets married unpregnant anymore.
It’s not like he can’t afford to raise them, and it’s not like he doesn’t love them. He’s not dropping them left and right, after all.
My trials and errors are at school at the moment, but I’m going to ask them if they feel doomed by my trial and error efforts the moment they get in. I expect it’s an uncool question, but I shall ask it anyway and report back.
I love both those quotes!
Oh, but parenting IS by trial and error. What works with one kid doesn’t work with another. What worked for my parents, doesn’t work for me, etc.
Absolutely, it is. I wasn’t suggesting otherwise.
Oh, sorry, then, Sixer – I thought you were being snarky ’cause he said that. 🙂
Homer Simpson sold Tomacco now…INTENSO! Lol!
reminds me of the Simpsons episode with a van/utility vehicle called the “Canyonero”; AND the episode where there was a ADD drug called “juvenal”.
Intenso Cologne is something I’d get for my husband as a gag. (no pun intended)
“Intenso” is the actual italian word for “intense”. Likely the sales and marketing team called the product an italian name and then figured it would just sound exotic in english. Does it really seem that weird in english? It sounds like every other perfume name to me.
Not really to me – I like strong coffee and half the blends I buy are called something-something intenso. Although, I do manage at least pidgin Italian, so perhaps that’s why.
Agree rocketmerry, what’s weird about “intenso”? It’s an Italian word.
There are many parfumes with Italian names out there, especially when the brand is italian.
Maybe it sounds weird to Americans I don’t know.
On another note I love Colin. He’s so hot. More Colin please!
I like “scuro”… I think it would be superior to “intenso”.
I was just going to say the same thing. Spanish is my native tongue and like in Italian INTENSO means intense and seems pretty normal to me.
It sounds ‘try hard’ in American English. Totally my opinion though.
I’ve got a spot in my heart for him. Smoldering!
He’s hot and Irish…enough said!!!
hmm, I’m Irish-American. Can’t say I find Irish hot, though. Just saying.
He must be fairly involved in his sons’ lives, based on the info from the Sony hack, which revealed he was turning down roles that would take him away from his kids for too long.
And that was a really long sentence.
I love Colin and how well he’s turned his life around.
+ 1
Man, I guess I’d always thought of him as being kind of a womanizer and a bit self-centered. But it sounds like he’s matured and takes his role as a dad seriously. Good on him.
Colin has a regular relationship with his kids. And I’ve read that he’s turned down movie roles for them.
Watching his interviews his my new hobby too! !
* IS
Did anyone see him flirting with Nene Leakes last week on Kelly and Michael? Hahaha
Hotness.
I adore this man.
Apparently, every year when he returns home to Ireland for Christmas, he goes to local children’s hospitals to simply visit and cheer up kids—the only reason I know this is because an extended family member just happened to be in that very hospital visiting his step child.
There were no cameras, no big media, he spent all day making the kids laugh…
He does really seem to love his boys; I’ve always enjoyed him as an actor, I hope he can find better roles, and this show only helps him .
Yeah my cousin is a nurse in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin (in Dublin) and Colin does this every Christmas apparently, no cameras, no fuss or diva demands, spends lots of time chatting with kids and staff. A very nice guy by all accounts.
I can confirm that hospital thing. He does it every year in Crumlin Children’s Hospital. My best friend was unlucky enough that her son ended up having to spend his first Christmas in there a few years ago and in walks Colin with gifts for the kids, no fanfare just sitting chatting to the parents and nurses who later told my friend that he does it every year. It’s just kind of known and no one makes a big deal out of it.
He’s a wonderful guy by all accounts and yes having his sons has really changed him. The Irish are a nation of folks who will call you out if you act the knob but honestly, have never heard a bad word about Colin.
This is so awesome ☺. I love CF and hearing this made me love him more! What a lovely gesture to all those sick kids and their families. It’s just wonderful.
My brother worked with him on the set of True Detective and said he’s super nice and down to earth.
So he really is a nice guy! And super hot 😍
Thanks for sharing! I love hearing real encounters with the people we gossip about! ☺️
When I look at CF, all I think of is hot, dirty sex, and him whispering in my ear, in that sexy, Irish brogue….excuse me, I need to take a shower, now!
He’s hot, no doubt about that!
would you be ok if your husband wrote the same about a female celeb?
LMAO my husband has said the same about female celebs. I put it in the same category of his chances at Olympic gold so…. not a concern.
To me, he’s a younger, dirtier version of Liam Neeson. His charm is off the charts.
I think he is pretty involved in Henry’s life. Alicja stayed in LA for him to have a relationship with his son, even though her current and previous boyfriends both live in Poland (she probably still hopes to have a career there too) and there are pap pictures of her from Polish airports quite often, without Henry. She always speaks highly of Colin in interviews as well – that they were not able to make it work and that she’s moved on but she’s glad he is the father of her son because he is so involved and hands-on. They probably have a 50/50 custody and she visits Poland whenever it’s Colin’s turn to take care of their son.
That says a lot about him. Wow.
I imagine Colin Farrell to smell of stale cigarettes, stale, whiskey, and beer – kind of like my brother smells. But yes, to more Colin, just because “Celebitchy presents Colin Farrell says words” is fun.
He seems like a decent guy and I like his take on parenting, plus he’s hot as hell! I don’t like that facial hair with the 3 different parts but I’ll forgive him, did I read somewhere that he’s been celibate for years? That makes him even hotter if true.
Love Colin Farrell, but don’t care for the “for the first time in your life you are not the most important thing in your world” stuff. It’s all very romantic, but… meh.
Oh, the bad boy with a heart of gold…great interview. And he’s looking great these days!
He gets a lot of love from me, that’s for sure, so please keep covering him! 😀
Love what he said about fatherhood. Beautifully expressed.
I love you unconditionally, Colin.
A cologne called Intenso? Good grief.
People overuse the term “unconditional love”. I don’t think that is possible. I love my kids beyond reason but if they were assholes/evil/psychopaths I’m not going to love them just because I gave birth to them. I might feel a maternal bond or sense of responsibility for bringing them to this world, but “love”? No.
Unconditonal love is stupid and unfair.
I watched an interview with Jeffrey Dahmer’s father and it was very obvious that he still loved his son despite what he had done. Unconditional love is possible.
@Sahoor,
It’s possible, but love, in my experience, is based in the willingness to try to understand and in the ability to forgive. It is difficult, but it’s possible.
I remember years ago reading a Vanity Fair piece on Colin. He spoke very candidly about how the birth of his oldest son changed his perception of how should be lived, especially his own. When the boy was diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome he committed himself to being there for his son. I have a friend whose daughter has Angelman. It’s an extremely complex problem that requires intensive attention and care from parents and caregivers. His son’s mother has never said a bad word about Colin, so I’m assuming he’s not just giving lip service when he talks about his sons. As for True Detective, he’s playing a dark, dark soul in that one.
That cologne name is dreck, but the torn longsleeved undershirt look will ALWAYS work for that man. And many others, too…