It's safe to say that Barry Keoghan has come a hell of a long way in recent years.
The Dubliner's troubled childhood has been documented extensively, but he has become one of the most successful actors of his generation and has clocked up a few big award wins in the process - including a BAFTA for his role in 'The Banshees of Inisherin'.
Now, ahead of the release of his new film 'Saltburn', Keoghan has been interviewed for (and is the cover star of) Esquire magazine's 90th anniversary edition, in which he discusses his ADHD diagnosis and becoming a father to his 1-year-old son Brando.
In the revealing interview, he explains how he always suspected that he had ADHD but was only diagnosed three years ago - and that medication for the condition had helped him enormously.
"It’s something that should be recognised and talked about in adults. And the medication: The difference is day and nigh," he said. "My mind used to be like a traffic jam, crazy, and then with the medication it’s like: One car goes, then another car goes."
He also spoke about being a father to his son Brando, and how he had no male figure to act as his role model growing up - instead, looking to his granny, who helped to raise him after his mother died.
"We all usually have someone we base our father figure on, and our lessons," he said. "Not to diss my feckin’ own father, I just didn’t have that. But I’m being honest when I say this: I can base my being a father on my granny. She raised ten. She had a great, what do you call it, attitude about everything. Man or woman, that’s what I base it on. She was my father and mother in one."
He added: "Abandonment is embedded in me so deeply, and I’ve got to work through it, because I’ve got other responsibilities now. It’s just something that I’ve got to put a lot of time and effort into. But I’m loving it. I’m loving discovering about myself, my strengths. And that that happened, and it was nobody’s fault. Not my parents’. It just happened. I understand that now as an adult and as a father, that these things happen. I hold no resentment. I’m not bitter. My parents were young, and it was what it was. It gave me all the tools and challenges to define myself. "
You can read the full interview here.
