Rafe Spall wants to be more of a 'present father'
Rafe Spall would like to be more of a "present father".
The 39-year-old actor has three children - aged 11, nine and six – with his wife, former 'Hollyoaks' actress Elize du Toit, 42, and Rafe admitted being away from them while he is working is tough.
Rafe, who is approaching the end of a five-month run playing Atticus Finch in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' on the West End stage, told inews.co.uk: "I’d like to be more of a present father.
"I’d like to get to the point where I could do less acting and be around them more."
The family relocated from London to Stroud in Gloucestershire a few years ago and Rafe added: "I try to do the right thing. But obviously, I’m not around as much as I’d like to be because my job takes me away a lot. But unfortunately, I don’t have any other skills to exchange for cash. This is all I have and so I have to go off and do my acting in order to keep them in hummus.”
"It’s taken me 20 years to get into the position where I am now. So you go, well, you could just quit, but it’s like, well, then it would take me another 20 years to get good at something else.
"No, I don’t want to quit. I like it, it’s really good fun. But it’s very involved."
Rafe, who was a chubby teenager but found himself offered leading man roles after losing weight, also revealed he feels guilty about contributing to the weight debate in the past.
He said: "So many people feel s*** about the way they look. It’s not good. I don’t want to contribute to that. I just don’t want to contribute to the: ‘Oh, I lost loads of weight and now look at me, I’m terrific and I’m on the TV’ narrative. Nah. It’s not as simple as that."
