Colin Farrell defined the troublesome choice of placing his 21-year-old son James Farrell in a long-term care facility.
“It’s difficult — some mother and father will say, ‘I need to deal with my baby myself,’ and I respect that,” Colin, 48, mentioned in an interview with Candis Journal printed in April, by way of The Impartial.
The Penguin actor has spoken prior to now about son James — whom he shares with former companion Kim Bordenave — having Angelman syndrome, a genetic dysfunction that impacts the nervous system and may trigger developmental incapacity in addition to points with speech and steadiness.
Since James turned 21 in September 2024, Colin has labored with Bordenave to discover a facility the place their son will at all times be nicely taken care of.

“My horror can be, what if I’ve a coronary heart assault tomorrow, and, God forbid, James’ mom, Kim, has a automotive crash and she or he’s taken too — after which James is on his personal?” the actor famous. “[He’d be] a ward of the state. And he goes the place? We’d don’t have any say in it.”
Colin mentioned he feels it’s finest for James to get his son located in a wholesome setting “whereas we’re nonetheless alive and wholesome, that we will go and go to, and we will take him out typically.”
“We would like him to search out someplace the place he can have a full and joyful life, the place he feels linked,” he added. “By going out within the van every single day and going to the grocery store and doing the buying collectively. By going to the seaside, museums, motion pictures, all that stuff. Only a linked life.”
The Academy Award-nominated actor first spoke publicly about James having Angelman syndrome in 2007. In September 2024, Colin opened up James being nonverbal and requiring particular care.
“I converse to James as if he’s 20 and has good fluency with the English language and age-appropriate cognitive capacity,” he instructed Individuals “However I can’t discern a selected reply from him as as to whether he’s comfy with all this or not, so I’ve to make a name primarily based on understanding James’ spirit and what sort of younger man he’s and the goodness that he has in his coronary heart.”
Colin mentioned on the time that he was talking out about James’ journey as a way to persuade “the world to be sort” to people who find themselves nonverbal, like his son.
“I would like the world to deal with him with kindness and respect,” he mentioned. “As soon as your baby turns 21, they’re form of on their very own. All of the safeguards which are put in place, particular ed lessons, that every one goes away, so that you’re left with a younger grownup who needs to be an built-in a part of our trendy society and most of the time is left behind.”
Colin can also be a father to 15-year-old son Henry Tadeusz Farrell, whom he shares together with his Ondine costar Alicja Bachleda-Curuś. In April 2024, Colin joked that he had a “Rotten Tomatoes committee at residence” as a result of his sons have been his “hardest” critics.
“They’re each at this stage in life the place they will see just about no matter they need,” Colin defined. “A variety of the stuff I’ve completed, significantly with the ages that they have been, they might by no means take a look at [before now].”