“I was depressed, I blamed myself”: Brendan Fraser tells how he changed his attitude towards his son with autism 09.02.2023, 16:05

The George of the Jungle star has three children. He married actress Afton Smith and had sons Griffin, Holden and Leland. Brendan’s oldest heir is 20 years old. He was diagnosed with autism as a child. This upset Fraser very much. However, instead of giving up, he began to think about methods to support the child’s health.

“When I learned of my child’s diagnosis at 22 or 24 months of age, I was, to put it mildly, disheartened. My first reaction was: “I want to know how to fix it.” What is the medicine? What does it mean?”- Rick O’Connell explained on the screen.

He specified that he was completely surprised by the diagnosis. Brendan felt like he had been “hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat.” The native of Indianapolis began to think about the causes of his son’s illness. Fraser believed that the blame lay with him.

“It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. You blame yourself and you think, ‘My genealogy’ or ‘I smoked weed in college,’ and you start blaming yourself for the reasons,” the actor said.

Frazier and Smith divorced in 2008 after ten years of marriage. However, the TV star remains on good terms with his ex-wife. The father of many children does not blame Griffin’s diagnosis for the breakup of the family.

“I paid more attention to my professional life than my personal life. That’s just me. But with Griffin, all bets are off. Who cares about our mutual problems? It does not matter. It is under a white flag and we are doing everything we can to support the needs of this boy and his brother. That’s what I could do in the most meaningful way,” assured the 54-year-old Frazier.

Griffin and his diagnosis changed Brendan’s perspective. The artist believes that everything turned out the way it should. According to the producer, his son knows how to enjoy life, he likes to spend time with his father. “This child is the happiest of all I know, he is related to me, he is my son. I want to know what he thinks all day about something so freaking funny, honestly he’s laughing at himself. He likes to drive in the car. It doesn’t matter where you take him,” Brendan said.

In 2022, the actor played the lead role in Darren Aronofsky’s drama The Whale. The film received positive reviews from film critics. Griffin helped the star get into character and connect with his character, aloof Professor Charlie.

“He doesn’t know what cynicism is. You can’t insult him. He can’t offend you. He’s the luckiest person, and he’s the epitome of love in my life and the lives of so many others,” Fraser told the Howard Stern Show.