Patrick Stewart’s Estranged Son Pays Poignant Tribute After His Death at 86

Sir Patrick Stewart’s son Daniel has paid tribute to the Star Trek icon following his death, despite the actor having previously spoken of his regret over being estranged from his two children.

Stewart, famed for his roles in the landmark sci-fi series and the X-Men franchise, died on Wednesday at the age of 86 after battling Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.

The 59-year-old actor took to his X account to share a sweet image of himself giving his father a piggyback ride.

The photograph was taken during a production of Johnson Over Jordan, which father and son performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2001.

Daniel shared the image without a caption or any additional explanation, allowing the photograph to stand as his tribute.

In the years before his death, Stewart had spoken openly about his complicated family life and his regret over being separated from Daniel and his younger daughter, Sophie, 54.

In an interview with the Irish Independent in 2023, Stewart said the estrangement 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 said he was surprised by the situation and burdened by regret over his “non-existent” relationship with the children he had with his former wife, Sheila Falconer.

“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.”

He accepted some responsibility for the distance between them, acknowledging: “I always put my acting work first, before my family.”

Stewart said that “not a day goes by” without him regretting the situation, adding that he was “pained by the memory of [his] children” and by memories of who they once were.

He also described being troubled by “a sense of responsibility that they became who they are in part because of me and my influence or lack of influence on them”.

Stewart told the newspaper 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. I’m trying to correct that now, whenever possible with my grandchildren. And my own children seem to have forgiven me,” he said.

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Stewart also discussed his relationship with Daniel and Sophie in his 2023 memoir, Making It So, describing it as “a work in progress”.

He wrote in the memoir: ‘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 20s and the other three in their teens.’

Stewart did not just star on stage with Daniel as he also portrayed his son, a character named Batai, in Star Trek: The Next Generation titled The Inner Light (season five, episode 25) which first aired on June 1, 1992. 

Stewart was married three times: to Falconer from 1966 to 1990, to American TV producer Wendy Neuss from 2000 to 2003, and to singer Sunny Ozell, to whom he had been wed since 2013.

Stewart’s death 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 [a brain disorder that affects thinking, movement, behaviour, and mood].

‘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.’ 

The English star gained international stardom for his leading role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987 to 1994, a role he reprised in a series of films and Star Trek: Picard from 2020 to 2023.

He also garnered acclaim for playing Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film series from 2000 to 2017.

While best known for his roles in blockbuster movies and TV shows, the classically trained stage actor also scaled the Shakespearean canon.

In 1966, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and later made his Broadway theatre debut in 1971 in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

He would go on to win a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Antony and Cleopatra in the West End. 

Besides playing everyone from Claudius to Macbeth, he often performed a one-man rendition of A Christmas Carol and did West End and Broadway runs of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in repertoire with buddy Ian McKellen. 

Stewart was knighted in 2010 by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama.