Jimmy Carr has opened up about his strained relationship with his father who he hasn’t spoken to for 21 years.
The 8 Out of 10 Cats presenter recently confirmed he is a first-time dad after welcoming his son, Rockefeller, with girlfriend Karoline Copping two years ago.
Becoming a dad himself has made Jimmy, 49, want a healthier relationship with his baby boy that he didn’t have with his own father while growing up.
The comedian spoke about his ‘difficult’ childhood on the Parenting Hell podcast and admitted his communication with his father, Patrick James ‘Jim’ Carr, is non-existent.
Speaking to hosts Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe, Jimmy said: ‘It’s not a secret, I haven’t seen my dad in 21 years and you know the line, “My mother’s dead and my father’s dead to me” – which sounds very cold, until you meet the guy,’ prompting laughs from the presenters.
Jimmy continued: ‘It’s a weird thing where I’m acutely aware that things don’t always work out… I’m aware that sometimes it goes the other way and that could be terrible and there’s no bitterness and there’s no anger there. I want the best, I just can’t have that guy in my life.
‘There’s a bit of sadness there and you worry, “Could something go wrong with my kid?” You want to prevent that, but it’s hard.’
He added: ‘I think it’s about being a father and being that figure for him but not in any way controlling.’
Jimmy’s mother, Nora Mary, died in September 2001 and it appears his relationship with his father ended shortly before her death. The comic referred to ‘losing’ his mother and father at the same time but said he was grateful to have ‘enough father figures and mother figures in [his] life’.
Last month, the TV star confirmed that he had welcomed a son with longtime partner Karoline and decided to name him Rockefeller after the famous American billionaire and his favourite comedian Chris Rock.
He told the Radio Times: ‘[The paparazzi] took plenty of photos of me pushing a pram. Or maybe they thought I was taking old CDs down to the dump in it because I’d fallen on hard times…’
Speaking about being a dad for the first time, Jimmy joked that so far, he hasn’t been softened by his son, saying: ‘It could be a bit of a gear shift, because of the kind of comedy I do. But so far, I’m still telling the same jokes, I’ve got the same sense of humour.
‘We’ll see, because I’m sure I’m going to be writing a lot of material about him. In fact, I think he might be tax-deductible.’
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