Barry Keoghan has hit back at trolls who labelled him a ‘ᴅᴇᴀᴅbeat dad’ and revealed he’s constantly working to better himself as an actor, father and human being. 

The Saltburn star, 32, is father to two-year-old son Brando with his ex-girlfriend Alyson Kierans who he split from in mid-2023. 

Last month, he revealed that trolls had unfairly branded him an ‘absent father’ and ‘ᴅᴇᴀᴅbeat dad’ because he stopped posting as many pictures with his child. 

Hitting back, he told Hunger magazine: ‘By God, didn’t the feckin’ internet do their work! ‘ᴅᴇᴀᴅbeat father’, blah, blah, blah! It’s just because I don’t post my child 24/7 or give the internet what they want. My son isn’t a talking point. 

‘It’s not my place to be sticking up pictures of his face all over the internet — not in this day and age with the internet and how sick it can be. 

‘People are so feckin’ quick to judge. It can really affect you, but I’m a strong person. I do some therapy. I’m a work in progress. I’m constantly evolving as an actor, as a father, as a human. I’m always trying to grow.’ 

Barry Keoghan has hit back at trolls who labelled him a ‘ᴅᴇᴀᴅbeat dad’ and revealed he’s constantly working to better himself as an actor, father and human being (pictured this month)3

The Saltburn actor, 32, is father to two-year-old son Brando with his ex-girlfriend Alyson Kierans who he split from in mid-2023

Barry co-parents Brando with ex, Alyson, a dentist whose father is from County Cavan.

Just months after getting together he broke the news that the couple were expecting a baby, however they split in July last year after two and a half years.

At the time of their split, The Sun reported the pair were ‘determined to do the best for their son….They’ve grown apart over recent months and things have finally come to a head….As far as she’s concerned, it’s over.’

Shortly after his breakup, Barry was linked to the popstar Sabrina Carpenter.

The pair cemented their couples’ status when Barry appeared in the music video for Sabrina’s hit, Please Please Please.

Barry previously explained that his upbringing has impacted the way he parents his child as he hit back at critics.

During an interview on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Barry reflected on living in foster care while his mother – who died when he was 12 – struggled with drug addiction. 

He said: ‘If I didn’t have tough skin or the strength to have, I wouldn’t be sitting here.’

Barry co-parents Brando with ex, Alyson, a dentist whose father is from County Cavan.  They split in July last year after two and a half years (pictured March 2023) 

Shortly after his breakup, Barry was linked to Sabrina Carpenter. The pair cemented their couples’ status when Barry appeared in the music video for Please Please Please (pictured in May)

Barry continued: ‘Of course, (my childhood is) going to affect me being a father when I had no blueprint to take from.

‘People just read that (as) laziness and go, ‘Oh, that’s no excuse to be an absent father’. I’m not an absent father.’

The film star said he is infuriated by some of the comments he reads about himself online, describing comments about his parenting or appearance as ‘slander’.

He added: ‘Just the audacity of some people, man. It sickens me, makes me furious. I’ve been off it (social media) because when I’m going through a role, I’m getting into character. I stay away from the internet.

‘But, again, when I’ve got a bit of time, I am a curious being like all of us and you want to know what (people are saying online) especially when it’s slander and when it’s bad comments attacking my appearance or attacking me as a father.’

Barry said he is ‘just trying to make a living, trying to get a good body of work and create safety for my child’. 

Speaking about his mother, Barry described her as ‘gorgeous, almost like six-foot, dark hair, just beautiful,’ but said drug addiction ‘caught her’.

He added: ‘It’s sad to see the deterioration of people around the area and see people kind of struggle with it and the recovery they’re in now,’ 

‘It caught my mum, it caught my uncle who died of it and caught my father as well.’ 

Barry, who is from Summerhill in Dublin, went through over 10 foster homes before eventually settling with his grandmother. He said the experience ‘kind of haunts me still’. 

Of being in care, Barry said: ‘You don’t forget waiting on the social worker steps and waiting for the new family to come and play with you in the playground they have in the office and see if it’s going to work and then go with them to a whole new area and a whole new home. […]

‘And you know, the car journeys there and they’re the things that haunt and I don’t blame her. It’s a sickness.’

Barry has revealed how his upbringing has affected his parenting. He was 12 when his mother Debbie died from a heroin overdose and he had no relationship with his father (pictured with brother Eric) 

Speaking about his experience in a chat with The Sunday Times, Barry revealed he prays to his mother ‘every day’ following her death 19 years ago. 

He admitted that losing his mother ‘wasn’t a shock’, adding ‘But oh, she was so beautiful.’

Barry struggled at school, where he was considered a naughty pupil, and was kicked out of school plays for ‘messing about’.

But he previously revealed that acting helped him overcome some of the trauma of his childhood, after initially pursuing careers in boxing and football. 

The actor went on to star in international blockbusters like The Eternals and Batman before achieving critical-acclaim for his role as Dominic Kearney in The Banshees of Inisherin.