MondayJan182021
ABC(LOS ANGELES) — Paul Bettany, star of Marvel's WandaVision, currently streaming on Disney+, opened up to People magazine recently about the pain he experienced when watching his father struggle to come to terms with his sexuality. Bettany also spoke about how the experience shaped the way he's raising his kids with actress Jennifer Connelly.
Bettany says his dad had a 20-year relationship with another man after divorcing his mother, but "went back in the closet" following his partner's death.
"That really speaks to the power of his Catholicism, which sort of led him to a place of shame and inability to mourn his partner in a real way," explains the 49-year-old actor.
As a result, Bettany, who has three kids with Connelly — sons Kai, 23, and Stellan, 17, and daughter Agnes, nine — says "I really want my children, and I want everybody, to just live authentically as the person they are, and however hard that is, it's absolutely better than pretending to be something other than you are."
"Having been through a thousand years of therapy, there's real power in getting to know yourself…and I have so many things to be grateful for," he adds.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News.
By George Costantino
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