Anthony Hopkins Writes Heartfelt Apology to Estranged Daughter Abigail In New Memoir

The 87-year-old Academy Award winner recently shared details of their strained relationship in a New York Times interview promoting the book, confirming a recent attempt to reconcile was ignored.

The actor, who shares Abigail with his first wife Petronella Barker, from whom he split in 1972, revealed that a bid for reconnection initiated by his current wife, Stella Arroyave, went unanswered.

"My wife, Stella, sent an invitation [to Abigail] to come and see us," Hopkins told the outlet in an interview published on October 25. "Not a word of response. So I think, okay, fine. I wish her well, but I'm not going to waste blood over that. If you want to waste your life being in resentment, fine, go ahead."

In his new memoir, which was released on Nov. 4, he writes directly to Abigail: "my door is always open" -- a starkly hopeful contrast to his previous comments on the subject.

"I hope my daughter knows that my door is always open to her. I want her to be well and happy," Hopkins wrote in the book, as reported by Us Weekly. "Until the day I die, I will never forget the sight of her in that crib, laughing up at me when I walked in the room the first year of her life, sleeping soundly the night I left. I will always be sorry for hurting her when I left the family, even as I believe to this day that I had no choice."

Hopkins also recounts an earlier attempt he tried to make amends with his daughter, in 1997, around the time he began his sobriety journey. He said he flew to London to issue an in-person apology to first wife Baker and Abigail, who was only 9 years old at the time. But the dinner didn't go as desired. 

"The meeting was awkward. We put up a good front, but obviously so much damage had been done. They didn't want me there," Hopkins wrote. "Throughout the meal, they kept catching each other's eye and making faces."

Hopkins also connected with Abigail several times during her teenage years, trying to aid her with her acting career, he said. But despite his attempts to make things right, the actor claimed they just drifted further apart. 

“I helped her get small acting parts and I tried to make her feel as welcome as I could. I bought her an apartment. But she drifted away,” Hopkins shared. “Abigail never seemed able to forgive me for leaving the family when she was a baby. She had her reasons. I can’t blame her for that. That’s life. But it was and is a tremendous source of pain.”

The Silence of the Lambs star even admitted to speaking about her “coldly” in the press, something he would later regret. 

“It is true that I have spoken about her in the press coldly,” he wrote. “Saying in one regrettable interview that after 20 years of not hearing from her, I no longer knew where she was or if she’d ever married or had children, and that at that point I did not care.”

After coming to terms with his failures as a father, Hopkins swore off having children ever again, vowing to never repeat the mistakes he made with Abigail. 

“After realizing I was unfit as a father for Abigail, I vowed not to have any more children, and I have kept that promise. I knew I was too selfish,” he explained in the book. “I couldn’t do to another child what I’d done to her.”

As for Abigail, she hasn't shared a lot in public about her relationship with her father. However, in 2006, she mentioned she was open to "possibly" reconciling.

"It would have to be a two-way thing, though," she told The Telegraph at the time. "I don't know how I would feel about it. We have never really been close. We've never discussed big life issues. Because, well, our relationship was always so sporadic. I've never felt I could discuss those sort of things with him."

We Did OK, Kid is now available.