Editor’s note: This article was originally published on January 10, 2020. It has since been updated.

Sometimes, our family becomes the source of our deepest pain and as a parent, you can’t always be there to protect your child. You may give them multiple chances but despite your best efforts, they would rebuke all of them. You may want only the best for your child but when they don’t understand your intentions, there is only so much a parent can do. Especially, when your children are adults. Children grow up and come into their own. They have their own thoughts and opinions, and you can’t do much to change them, even if you can see the wrong ways.

Former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan is a happily married man now but behind those piercing blue eyes and a boundless heart lie deep pain from losing his wife and daughter. His former wife, Cassandra Harris, and her daughter from her previous marriage, Charlotte, whom he had adopted, both died of ovarian cancer. Harris had another child, Christopher, from her former marriage, whom Brosnan had adopted too. Both father and son saw their closest people die in front of them and each coped very differently with the pain.

Brosnan lost most of his previous family when his daughter died as he had already become distant from his eldest son, who had been struggling with his drug habit. Christopher and Charlotte were raised by the Thomas Crowne Affair actor and Harris but her loss had hit the young man hard, according to Sun UK.

Even though he had been troubled, he was given multiple chances by his father so he could find the right path, but he disappointed the Laws of Attraction actor over and over again. A Hollywood producer, Christopher was given the chance to work as an assistant director on his father’s films Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and The Thomas Crown Affair. But, these opportunities went to waste as he couldn’t keep a handle on his fast spiraling life, according to News.com.au.

In 1996, he was fined £1,000 for drunken driving and the next year he was given a three-month sentence for the same offense, according to Standard UK. Even jail time didn’t change his ways, and he was banned from a London nightclub for fighting. Later, he collapsed due to overdosing on drugs. In 2004, he was arrested twice for stealing at the club Chinawhite. However, charges were not pursued. In June 2005, he was held on suspicion of possessing heroin but criminal proceedings were dropped.

His father gave him “one last chance to get back on track” but Christopher couldn’t pull himself up and the Mamma Mia! actor gave up on him.

In 2005, Brosnan told Playboy magazine via Standard UK, “Christopher is still very lost… Shockingly so. I know where he is, but he’s having a hard life. I can only have strong faith and believe he will recover. He has tested everybody in this family but none more so than himself. He knows how to get out. He doesn’t want to. It’s painful because you shut down. You never completely cut them off, but I have cut Christopher off. I had to say, ‘Go. Get busy living, or get busy dying’. He has my prayers.”

For a father using such strong words against his son would be one of the hardest things ever. He never stopped loving his son even though, sometimes, loving him was hard.

“For all his waywardness and addiction I adore Christopher and just want him healthy and well,” the actor added.

Brosnan

Brosnan’s biological son with Harris, Sean, had also struggled with drugs and overcome the battle. He was only eight when he lost his mother and was by his father during the tragic time. He spiraled out of control in his teens and twenties but is a reformed man now, who’s become a psychologist now, according to Irish Central. He chose to fight for himself and his father was right with him then, which shows that a parent can help a child only when the child wants to help themselves as well. Unfortunately, the former James Bond could only do so much for Christopher.

References:

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/irishvoice/sean-brosnan-podcast-battle-drugs-alcohol

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/10005776/pierce-brosnan-estranged-son-christopher/

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/celebrity-kids/pierce-brosnans-estranged-son-christopher-makes-rare-public-appearance/news-story/6c3371060a48ce2f225356b4b9175f93

https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/pierce-turns-back-on-son-7247355.html