Actor Alan Cumming, who is hosting the 2026 Bafta Film Awards tonight (February 22), suffered a traumatic childhood because of his father.
The Scottish star, who also fronts the US version of The Traitors, has been vocal about his horrific abuse in past interviews.
Alan Cumming and his traumatic relationship with dad
In November 2021, Alan opened up about his father, who was violent and beat him up, with Big Issue.
“At 15, my main focus concern was on trying to avoid being hit by my father, and hoping to get out of my home situation,” he said.
“My brother had left home by then so I was alone with my father and I felt very desperate. I was just living in terror. But at the same time, at school I was starting to do some acting in plays, so that was a big change. And I think by then I was also going along to the theatre club in Carnoustie.”
Alan, who is bisexual, said that around this time, his “sexuality was beginning to raise its adolescent head”.
At age 16, Alan left school and “went to work for DC Thomson”. He said that was “when everything suddenly changed for me, even more dramatically than when I went to drama school”.
Alan elaborated: “Because I wasn’t my father’s slave anymore, I wasn’t in his thrall. I still lived at home but I finally had some sort of autonomy.”
Alan’s father died from cancer in 2010. The two had been estranged for nearly two decades before reconnecting that same year while Alan was filming Who Do You Think You Are?
‘My father told me I was worthless’
In his memoir Not My Father’s Son, Alan opened up about the effect his father’s behaviour had on him.
Alan wrote: “I actually think the prolonged period of tension before landing his blows, as we were systematically inspected, chided, and humiliated, had a far worse effect than the actual hits.”
“My father continued to have affairs throughout my childhood, and they were not subtle or discreet. I understood that I had to collude, to protect my father, even though he didn’t deserve it,” he added.
In more shocking confessions, Alan said: “My father told me I was worthless, my mother that I was precious. They couldn’t both be right, but they evened each other out and I began to make my own mind up, not just about myself but about everything that was going on around me.”
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