Christian Slater Talks About Reconnecting With Schizophrenic Father

Christian Slater recently opened up about his estranged father, Michael Hawkins. In an interview for Interview Magazine with his Nymphomaniac director Lars von Trier, Slater spoke about his father who struggles with manic depression and schizophrenia.

Explaining his father’s early troubles, Slater said of his former-actor father, “He’s always had trouble — he was a fantastic actor and extraordinarily charismatic and very, very good looking, but he had a really difficult time working with directors, collaborating with people.”

The star goes on to say that his 79-year-old father is a “manic-depressive schizophrenic.”

Due to his father’s troubles, Christian Slater spent nine years not speaking to him because “[he was] “in the middle of the relationship between his mother and father and needed to get out of that.”

Although the two have reconnected, Christian Slater hasn’t seen his father. That said, Slater told von Trier that his father is, “in a place now, getting a lot of help from someone.”

He continued, “In the last few months my father actually reached out to me and wanted to reconcile and reconnect. I was very grateful to be able to communicate with him. From a tumultuous, back-and-forth relationship, we were able to begin to build a better bridge for the both of us. So that was good.”

That said, Christian Slater looks like he’s a good father to his own children. The actor has two children, Jaden, 16, and Eliana, 13, whom he spent time with. Back in 2014, he was captured hanging out in New York with his then 15-year-old son. According to reports, the two shared a catch in the park.

He also mentioned to von Trier during the interview that he has a good relationship with his kids despite having to struggle through an estranged relationship with his ill father. “When I look around…I’m certainly happily married [and] I have a great relationship with my [own] kids.”

His son Jaden is moving in with Slater and his wife Brittany Lopez, and the actor seems to be very pleased with the arrangement; saying he’s “excited to get the opportunity to be a bit more of a father in his [son’s] life.”

Slater and Lars von Trier teamed up for the controversial 2013 film Nymphomaniac. Slater joined a large cast, including Willem Dafoe, Shia LaBeouf, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Uma Thurman.

[Photo by Andreas Rentz / Getty Images]