Brian Cox was “far too young” when he married his first wife.
Brian Cox on his first marriage
The ‘Succession’ actor was just 24 years old when he tied the knot with Caroline Burt – the mother of his kids Alan 51, and 44-year-old Margaret– because he was looking for stability and “normality” after a troubled childhood which had seen his dad die when he was eight and his mother hospitalised after a breakdown, but he thinks he should have waited until later in life to settle down.
Brian – who writes openly about his infidelity in his new memoir, ‘Putting the Rabbit in the Hat’ – said: “‘I was just in my twenties when I got married to Caroline. Far too young.
“But I wanted the stability of marriage and kids. I wasn’t one of those middle-class actor-types, taking drugs and letting it all hang out.
“After what I’d been through, I craved the normality of a home and a family.
“Caroline and I managed 18 years and we had two children, so it wasn’t so bad.”
However, the 75-year-old star admitted he “struggled” with parenthood because his career kept him away from home for so long.
He added: “Having said that, I always struggled with fatherhood because, well… to be honest, my job meant that I was hardly ever there.”
But Brian hopes he’s a better parent to his younger sons, Orson, 19, and 17-year-old Torin – who he has with second wife Nicole Ansari – because he was “better prepared” for fatherhood in his 50s.
He said: “I remarried in 2002, to Nicole [Ansari, a German-born actor] and became a dad again at 56.
“With our two sons, I’ve tried to make up for all the things that happened before. These days, my career doesn’t always come first. Maybe I was better prepared for it the second time around.”
Nicole is 23 years younger than her husband but Brian doesn’t care about their critics.
He said: “What do they want me to say? Love is love, and Nicole is the love of my life.
“I had a relationship before this one where the age gap was 26 years and it started when she was 18. Although we had a great time together, I knew there were limitations because she still needed to find herself.
“Nicole was in her thirties when we met, and she’d already had a pretty amazing life. She’d been all over the world.”
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