Anthony Hopkins is known for his acting prowess, having played one of the most terrifying characters in cinematic history, Hannibal Lecter.
However, few realise he is also a dad of one child – daughter Abigail – whom he shared with his first wife.
But it seems there is no love lost between the pair, with Hopkins revealing he is moving on with his life after his long-estranged daughter refused an invitation to reconnect.
Hopkins, now 87, was speaking to The New York Times ahead of the upcoming release of his memoir, We Did OK, Kid, when attention turned to his relationship with his only child, daughter Abigail Hopkins.
Hopkins welcomed Abigail with his first wife, English actress Petronella Barker, in 1969, just as his career was taking off in his native England.
After their divorce in 1972, Hopkins went on to marry twice more, including to third wife Stella Arroyave.
Now Hopkins has spoken about their estrangement, telling The New York Times, that while he wishes her well, he was not going to waste any more time on it.
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“My wife, Stella, sent an invitation to come and see us. Not a word of response,” he said.
“So I think, ‘OK, fine’. I wish her well, but I’m not going to waste blood over that.
“If you want to waste your life being in resentment, fine, go ahead. It’s not in my ken.
“I could carry resentment over the past, but that’s death. You’re not living.
“You have to acknowledge one thing: that we are imperfect. We’re not saints. We’re all sinners and saints or whatever we are. We do the best we can.
“Life is painful. Sometimes people get hurt. Sometimes we get hurt. But you can’t live like that. You have to say, ‘Get over it’. And if you can’t get over it, fine, good luck to you. I have no judgment.
“But I did what I could. So that’s it. That’s all I want to say.”
When asked by the interviewer if he hoped his daughter reads his memoir, Hopkins replied, “I’m not going to answer that” before adding, “No. I don’t care”.
He then said he wanted to move on “because I don’t want to hurt her”.
Hopkins and his daughter have been estranged for at least two decades, with their problems dating back to her childhood.
Just one year after his divorce from Abigail’s mother, Hopkins remarried and moved to the US in the 70s to pursue his film career.
Abigail, whose Instagram bio describes her as a singer-songwriter, actor and documentary filmmaker, told The Telegraph in 2006, she rarely saw her father while growing up.
“I would see him, but maybe once a year. There is a little bit of sadness but I have to get on with my life,” she said.
“It has always been like that. See him, and then not. Then, when I was 16, there was some row.”
Hopkins added fuel to the row when he admitted in a 2018 interview with Radio Times that he had no idea if he had grandchildren and didn’t care.
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“People break up. Families split and, you know, ‘Get on with your life.’ People make choices,” he said.
“I don’t care one way or the other. You don’t have to like your family. Children don’t like their fathers. You don’t have to love each other.”
According to her bio, Abigail is also a stage three bowel cancer survivor who raises awareness and funds for charities.
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