‘X-Men’ Star Patrick Stewart Spoke Candidly About His Estrangement From His Children Before His Death

Patrick Stewart spent decades as the warm, steady presence audiences trusted, whether he was commanding the Enterprise or guiding young mutants at Xavier’s school. Behind that image was a more complicated family story. In the years before he died, the actor spoke openly about being estranged from his two grown children.

Stewart died on October 28 at the age of 86, at his home in Los Angeles, with his wife, Sunny Ozell, beside him. Tributes from the ‘Star Trek’ and ‘X-Men’ worlds have focused on his talent and generosity. His own words about fatherhood add a more personal layer to the way he is being remembered.

Those words came in a 2023 interview with the Irish Independent. Stewart said his relationship with his son, Daniel, and daughter, Sophie, was practically non-existent. He described feeling a deep, lasting sadness about it and said he never expected things to end up that way.

Stewart did not point the finger anywhere else. He said that acting had always come first and that his family took second place. Looking back, he said he could have been a better parent while his children were small.

He added that there was hardly a day when he was not pained by memories of them. He also felt a sense of responsibility for the people they became, in part because of his influence on them, or his absence from their lives. For a man so famous for his calm authority, it was an unusually raw thing to admit.

Stewart and his first wife, Sheila Falconer, an actress and dancer, had Daniel in 1967 and Sophie in 1972. The marriage ended in 1990, while he was filming ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ in Los Angeles. Daniel was 23 at the time and Sophie was 18.

Stewart later recalled that he had been very involved when his children were young. He said he loved holding Daniel as a baby, and that when Sophie was born he took on the role of both mother and father because her mother was busy working in musicals. He described that period as wonderful, which makes the later distance all the more poignant.

Daniel followed his father into acting and has worked on stage and television, including productions in the United States and the UK. He is married to actress Mary Stillwaggon Stewart, and they have two children. Sophie lives a more private life and also has two children.

There is one moment where father and son share the screen. Daniel played the on-screen son of Picard in the ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ episode ‘The Inner Light,’ which Stewart counted among his favorites, partly because of that casting.

Stewart’s comments were not entirely bleak. In earlier interviews, he said his children seemed to have forgiven him, and he described the relationship as a work in progress. In the 2023 interview, he also spoke of trying to make amends with his grandchildren.

He wrote about his regrets in his 2023 memoir, ‘Making It So,’ where he named his two failed marriages as his greatest regret. His honesty about his shortcomings was a hallmark of the book, and the later interview showed he was just as willing to be candid in conversation.

Public reaction to the resurfaced remarks has been one of sympathy. Many fans have said they appreciated that Stewart was willing to name his mistakes rather than polish them. It fits what he said about ‘Star Trek,’ which he once described as a kind of calling that shaped how he tried to be a better person.

His final years were also, by most accounts, happy ones. He married Ozell in 2013, and her care for him during his illness is mentioned in the coverage of his death. It makes the story less a tale of regret than a reminder that a life can hold both deep joy and unfinished business.

Stewart is survived by Daniel, Sophie, his wife and his grandchildren. His last film role, as Professor Xavier in ‘Avengers: Doomsday,’ is due in December, and his work will keep reaching new audiences.

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