Barry Keoghan Slams Accusations He's a "Deadbeat Dad" to 2-Year-Old Son Brando

Barry Keoghan won’t stand for certain narratives.

The Saltburn star recently got candid about his personal life, including how the turmoil he experienced growing up without reliable parental figures has affected the way he parents his 2-year-old son Brando, whom he shares with ex-girlfriend Alyson Kierans.

But while Barry admitted of his upbringing, “Of course it's going to affect me being a father when I had no blueprint to take from,” the 32-year-old is adamant that certain rumors about his parenting are untrue.

“People kind of have a judgment on me as a parent,” he added during his appearance on the Nov. 4 episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast. “There's a lot online. If I didn't have tough skin or the strength I have, I wouldn't be sitting here. And people just read that laziness and go, ‘Oh, that's no excuse to be an absent father.’ I'm not an absent father.”

He continued, “People love to use my son as kind of ammunition.”

And because of the backlash he’s received, occurring alongside his burgeoning fame in films such as Banshees of Inisherin and Eternals, Barry noted it’s for that reason he’s opted to keep the details of his life as a father out of the spotlight.

“The more tension I've got lately and the more in the public I've become, the less I've posted about my child,” the actor, who has been linked to Sabrina Carpenter, explained. “Because I don't think it's fair to put my child online. And because I've arranged that, people draw a narrative and go, ‘Absent father. S--t, deadbeat dad.’”

He continued, “Just the audacity of some people, man. It sickens me more than it makes me furious.”

The Dunkirk alum—who has shared his was absent from his life and whose mother died when he was a child after struggling with addition—further explained his relationship with his son by referencing an answer he provided in a recent interview in which he said he and Brando don’t have “that traditional father relationship.”

“What I meant by that was, I don't have that blueprint,” Barry explained. “Not many people do either. I don't have these kind of things that are in us to go, ‘Don't do that.’ Or, ‘My father taught me this song.’ And I don't have it from my mother either.”

And after noting his answer had been “twisted” online, he continued, “I ain't gonna feed them. I ain't gonna give them more material to go, ‘No, no, no, look, I'm with my child.’ Like, you don't deserve that.”

But while Barry’s glimpses into his life with Brando are rare, the Academy Award nominee has previously shared the ways his role as dad is the most significant one he’ll ever take on.

"It’s a very important thing for me—for him to be able to grow up and be proud of his daddy, and to lean on his daddy," he told Vanity Fair in February. "And if he has questions or anything, I’m always there for him in that sense of learning and growing with him and failing."

And in the meantime, Barry is enjoying the joys of watching his son grow up.

"You see little resemblances and little characteristics coming through, and it’s just beautiful," he gushed. "When he makes eye contact with you, you just melt."