In just a couple of years, Barry Keoghan has become a household name. Last year, the actor was nominated for an Academy Award following his stellar performance in The Banshees of Inisherin, and he later won a legion of young film fans thanks to his bath water slurping and grave grinding in Saltburn.
And while his star continues to rise (he appeared in the final season of Top Boy and recently landed a role in the Peaky Blinders movie), so has the interest in Barry’s personal life. He has been dating Sabrina Carpenter since late 2023 – although sources have recently claimed that they’re currently ‘on and off’ – but previous to that, he was in a relationship with dental nurse and orthodontic therapist Alyson Kierans. The former couple share a child together, two year old son Brando, but Barry has faced backlash in recent months after being spotted at several events and gigs with new girlfriend Sabrina.
It led to users on social media criticising his parenting, which was only exacerbated when eagle-eyed fans noticed Alyson had ‘liked’ an Instagram comment about being a mother who ‘raises their kids practically by themselves’. Now, Barry has addressed his relationship with his young son during a conversation with Entertainment Weekly.
While discussing his upcoming film Bird – which tells the story of a single father raising his children alone – Barry spoke about how the movie’s themes intertwine with his own life experiences and touched on his relationship with his toddler, Brando.
He explained: “I’ll just say this — I didn’t have a father figure growing up, so even my relationship with my son isn’t quite of the normal father-son relationship.”
He added: “I don’t have that figure to draw experience from and to base it on. Love, you don’t need anything to draw from, love is pure, and so I’m not on about that, but I’m on about little stuff like teaching your son this or teaching your daughter that.”
Bird is written and directed by Andrea Arnold and stars Barry Keoghan as Bug, Nykiya Adams as Bailey and Jason Buda as Hunter. It is set for UK release on 8th November 2024.