Michael Madsen talks fathers and sons

Michael Madsen, the actor who was recently cleared of child cruelty charges in relation to an alleged altercation with his son, has talked at length to Hot Press about his role as a father.

In an extraordinary interview, the Reservoir Dogs star also remembers the infamous ear-cutting scene, discusses Celebrity Big Brother, the role the Titanic nearly played in his life, his thoughts on the irrelevance of school and losing his virginity aged 13 to an older woman.

Madsen talks in depth though about family, his relationship with his own father – and with his sons:

“I have five sons of my own,” he says, “and being a movie actor you have to be cognisant of what you’re putting out there. And in the beginning when you’re young and naïve and a rabble-rouser, some of these things seem exciting and then later on as you get wiser, if you get wiser, you start to become more cognisant of the kind of material you’re putting out. With your children, you have to be, you have to answer to them.”

Asked if his parents’ divorce when he was nine was traumatic, Madsen says, “Obviously, everyone knows that when that happens, and when families get ripped apart, it is a breeding ground for unhappiness.”

Read the interview in its entirety in the new issue of Hot Press (Original Rudeboys cover), out now.