Barry Keoghan Reacts to ‘Deadbeat Dad’ Accusations: ‘Sickens Me’

Barry Keoghan is addressing accusations that he’s a “deadbeat dad.”

The Saltburn actor, 32, opened up about online trolls who criticize him as a parent to his 2-year-old son, Brando, during a September appearance on “The Louis Theroux Podcast.”

“There’s a lot online. If I didn’t have tough skin or the strength, I wouldn’t be sitting here,” Keoghan told host Louis Theroux. “Of course, [his 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.”

Keoghan – who shares son Brando with ex Alyson Sandro – was seemingly referring to comments he made during an interview with Entertainment Weekly in September, in which he talked about his relationship with his son while promoting his new film, Bird.

He continued, “But it’s just, again, people love to use my son as ammunition or whatever. And it kind of leads me to stop, the more attention I’ve [gotten] lately and the more in the public I’ve become, the less I’ve posted about my child, because I don’t think it’s fair to put my child online. And because I reigned that in, people draw a narrative and go, ‘Absent father, s—, deadbeat dad,’ and more disgusting things I wouldn’t even repeat. Just the audacity of some people, man. It sickens me, makes me furious.”

Though Theroux told the actor that he didn’t want to “state the obvious,” he advised him “not to look at comments” from people online, which prompted Keoghan to share why he sometimes reads what’s being said about him.

Noting that he stays off the internet when he’s getting into character for a role, Keoghan explained, “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.”

He added, “I’ve even blocked out certain words because I don’t want to read that. Stuff like my son – people don’t deserve to put that in a sentence, anything. I’m just trying to make a living, trying to get a good body of work and create safety for my child.”

Keoghan and Sandro, 33, welcomed their son in August 2022. The now-exes met in early 2021 before calling it quits in summer 2023.

The Golden Globe nominee has since moved on with singer Sabrina Carpenter. The pair first sparked romance rumors in December last year after photos of the duo out and about in Los Angeles made the rounds.

An insider later told Us Weekly that the pair has been dating since at least January.

“They really took things slow at first, but the relationship is going strong,” the source exclusively told Us in March. “They are both very casual people and enjoy being low-key in their downtime. They aren’t putting too much pressure on things, and Sabrina loves that Barry understands she is extremely busy with her work commitments right now.”

One of those work commitments was Carpenter, 25, opening for Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour earlier this year. Keoghan cheered the former Disney star on at several concerts in Singapore in March.

“Sabrina loves that he has been making the effort to support her at her shows and it has given them a chance to spend time together during this busy season,” the insider added. “He is a total fan of hers and she thinks it’s really cute.”

The “Louis Theroux Podcast” is available on Spotify now.