In the years before his death at 86, Sir Patrick Stewart spoke candidly about his complicated family life and his deep regret over becoming estranged from his adult children.
Stewart, who died on Wednesday after battling Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, told the Irish Independent in 2023 that his estrangement from his son Daniel, 59, and daughter Sophie, 54, had caused him “significant grief.”
“Given that I’m separated from my children now – we don’t have relationships – they have become very important,” Stewart said.
The actor admitted he was both surprised and consumed by regret over his “non-existent” relationship with Daniel and Sophie, whom he had during his marriage to his former wife, Sheila Falconer. The couple were married from 1966 until 1990.
“I never thought this would happen, but both my children are in their 50s – they’re not children anymore, they’re adults,” Stewart said. “And my relationship with them is practically non-existent.”
Stewart accepted responsibility for the breakdown in those relationships, acknowledging that he had put his career ahead of his family.
Three years before his death, Sir Patrick Stewart discussed his complicated family life, including his regret over becoming estranged from his adult children, son Daniel, 59, and daughter Sophie, 54
“Given that I’m separated from my children now – we don’t have relationships – they have become very important,” Stewart told the Irish Independent in 2023; pictured with wife Sunny Ozell in New York City that year
In the interview, Stewart said that “not a day goes by” without him regretting the situation. He described being “pained by the memory” of his children and the people they had become.
He said he was troubled by the responsibility he felt, believing his children had become who they were partly because of his influence—or his lack of it.
Stewart acknowledged that he “could’ve done better as a parent, when [his] kids were little.”
“I was just obsessed with my work, and everything else took second place,” he said. “I’m trying to correct that now whenever possible with my grandchildren. And my own children seem to have forgiven me.”
Stewart also addressed his relationship with Daniel and Sophie in his 2023 memoir, Making It So, describing it as “a work in progress.”
“The hurt caused by my split with their mother has never fully gone away,” he wrote. “I do get on wonderfully with their children – my four remarkable grandchildren, the eldest in his early twenties and the other three in their teens.”
Stewart married three times: first to Falconer, from 1966 to 1990; then to producer Wendy Neuss, from 2000 to 2003; and finally to singer Sunny Ozell, whom he married in September 2013.
Stewart and Ozell first met in 2008, when, as he told People in 2022, she was working as a waitress at a restaurant in Brooklyn.
![Stewart said in 2023 that he 'could've done better as a parent, when [his] kids were little;' pictured in 2023 in LA](https://i.dailymail.com/1s/2026/10/30/04/112185333-16251195-Stewart_said_in_2023_that_he_could_ve_done_better_as_a_parent_wh-a-4_1793333945978.jpg)
Stewart said in 2023 that he “could’ve done better as a parent, when [his] kids were little”; pictured in Los Angeles in 2023
Stewart discussed his relationship with Daniel and Sophie in his 2023 memoir, Making It So, calling it “a work in progress”; Stewart and his son Daniel, also an actor, pictured at an event in New York City in October 2010
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Stewart wrote: “The hurt caused by my split with their mother has never fully gone away. I do get on wonderfully with their children – my four remarkable grandchildren, the eldest in his early twenties and the other three in their teens”; (L-R) Daniel, Sophie, Patrick and Wendy Neuss pictured in New York City in 1999
Stewart was married to producer Wendy Neuss from 2000 to 2003; pictured in London in 2002
Stewart was married three times: to Falconer from 1966 to 1990, to producer Wendy Neuss from 2000 to 2003, and to singer Sunny Ozell, to whom he had been wed since September of 2013; Stewart and his first spouse Sheila Falconer seen in LA in January of 1992
Stewart, who had been performing in Macbeth in Brooklyn at that time, said that they got to chatting after she said she’d ‘wanted to see’ the production.
‘It was the only time in my life I’ve given someone my telephone number and said, “Call me, I can get a ticket,”‘ he said. ‘And that’s what we did. And she came backstage afterward and we had dinner and here we are.’
The two exchanged vows in Lake Tahoe in 2013, with Stewart’s friend and colleague Ian McKellen officiating the proceedings.
At the time of their wedding, Stewart was 73, while Ozell, a jazz singer, was 35.
Ozell told The Daily Mail in 2015 of the age gap: ‘He is so youthful and I guess I’m kind of an old worry wart so we bridge the gap.
‘It doesn’t come up much. He’s in better shape than me, which infuriates me.’
In a 2022 interview with People, Stewart spoke about his relationship with his spouse, saying: ‘I’ve never met anyone like her before.’
He added: ‘She is so smart and so informed. And her intellectual accomplishments are extraordinary. She remembers everything.’
In a 2022 interview with People, Stewart spoke about his relationship with his third spouse, Ozell, saying: ‘I’ve never met anyone like her before’; Stewart and Ozell, who wed in 2013, pictured at Vanity Fair’s 2024 Oscar bash in LA
He added: ‘She is so smart and so informed. And her intellectual accomplishments are extraordinary. She remembers everything’; The pair, who met in 2008, seen at a 2024 event in Beverly Hills, California
The couple, who had celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary last month, pictured in 2022
Stewart’s death at age 86 was confirmed in a statement published to his Instagram page on Thursday.
The statement read: ‘We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.’
‘He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all,’ the statement revealed.
‘We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace.’