Barry Keoghan would love to celebrate his newfound stardom with his late mum.
The ‘Banshees of Inisherin’ actor, 31, has seen his level of fame soar since he starred as scheming Oxford University student Oliver Quick in Emerald Fennell’s popular ‘Saltburn’ drama, but said he is stricken by a “loneliness” he thinks comes with fame.
He added to the February issue of GQ about how he fills the void by thinking of his mum, who died from drug addiction when he was 12: “When I’m isolated (what do I think of)?
“Obviously, my mother. My mother, always. She’s many years passed now, but I always think about her anyway.
“It’s always just in and around achievements that it’s really prominent – ’cause you’d like to celebrate that wit’ ’er, y’know?”
Barry, who was born and raised in Dublin and began his move into the world of acting when he was aged 19, added when asked if his mum knew he wanted to go into performing: “No, no, no.”
He also recalled how she called him “little Timmy” but he had no idea why she gave him the nickname.
Barry added: “I don’t know why (she called me that.)
“She’d be like, ‘Where’s my little Timmy?’ I’d love to make her laugh, and just dance for her.”
Barry added about her death: “She was in hospital. She was battlin’ a lot of stuff.”
The actor’s troubled background led to him identifying with Leonardo DiCaprio’s tormented character in drugs drama ‘The Basketball Diaries’.
Barry added: “‘Basketball Diaries’, for me, there was a personal connection – with my mother being on (drugs.)
“I really could relate to it, a lot. There’s a scene where (Leonardo) comes to the door and he’s begging his mum, can he come in?
“I was witness to that – that happened at my granny’s house, ’cause my granny was my mother’s mother. And it was similar. It hit home for me.”
He said about how he feels lonely amid his fame: “There’s a loneliness as well, that comes with this. A massive loneliness.
“It’s hard not to talk about that, or to pretend that’s not there.”
He said it struck when he was in New York for the ‘Saltburn’ premiere, adding: “One of the noisiest, busiest cities in the world, but for me it was like, I’m in that place on my own – the only person in New York, at some points.”
