Barry Keoghan gives befitting reply to critics over ‘deadbeat dad' remarks

Barry Keoghan is shutting down trolls calling him "deadbeat dad" and an "absent father."

Keoghan, who has been romantically linked to Espresso songstress Sabrina Carpenter and also featured in her hit Please Please Please, got candid about his journey before that.

Speaking on Spotify’s The Louis Theroux Podcast, the Irish actor, 32, addressed online criticism surrounding his parenting style with his son Brando, who he shares with an ex-partner.

"If I didn’t have tough skin or the strength to have, I wouldn’t be sitting here,” he said on the podcast as he began to draw connection between fatherhood and his own childhood.

"Of course, (my childhood is) going to affect me being a father when I had no blueprint to take from," he added, referring to seven years of his life spent in foster care before before settling with his grandmother and losing his mother to drug addiction.

He also expressed his frustration at people using his son as "ammunition," leading him to post less about his child online as he gains more public attention.

"People just read that (as) laziness and go, ‘Oh, that’s no excuse to be an absent father’. I’m not an absent father," he stated. 

The father of one added that his son’s absence from his social media leads people to label him an "absent father" and "deadbeat dad," among other things he wouldn't repeat.

"Just the audacity of some people, man. It sickens me, makes me furious," he added. "I’ve been off it (social media) because when I’m going through a role, I’m getting into character. I stay away from the internet."

The Saltburn star opened up about the darker side of fame, saying: "But, again, when I’ve got a bit of time, I am a curious being like all of us and you want to know what (people are saying online) especially when it’s slander and when it’s bad comments attacking my appearance or attacking me as a father."

He also shared his personal struggles, revealing he's "just trying to make a living, trying to get a good body of work and create safety for my child".

He also recalled nearly becoming an amputee in later years as he secured a role in Banshees of Inisherin (2022).

Keoghan said he contracted a "flesh-eating disease" just weeks before production, explaining that it was "a rare and life-threatening infection that can happen if a wound gets infected".

"That was quite a tough journey. I got this necrotising fasciitis. That was quite a scary experience, and that happened like two weeks before production."

"They wanted to amputate the arm […] and they were telling me if we don't catch it, there's a chance you could possibly die."

He said that filmmaker Martin McDonagh questioned at the time if the actor would still be able to do the project.