After the release of his new series WandaVision, Paul Bettany has slowly become the actor on
everyone's lips. But what no one knows about him is the trauma he had to face as a little boy.
After a tragic death in the family, the actor isolated himself from his flesh and blood,
choosing a life away from the trauma of his religious family. He went from living homeless
on the streets of London to landing a role in one of the most iconic film franchises,
the Star Wars universe. Still with all the success he garnered,
the actor’s lack of a solid upbringing seems to have influenced his own family values.
Before we reveal the truth behind the Marvel Superhero,
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Bettany was born into a creative family, with his mother being a drama teacher and
his father being a performer. But when he was just 16 years old, Bettany left his family,
quit school and found a new home in the cold and gloomy streets of London.
But what caused the actor to leave the home he already had, for the lonely street life?
Bettany lost his younger brother to a tragic freak accident that took a massive toll on the actor.
The young boy, who Paul describes as, quote "the person who at the time was the most
important person to me" fell off the rooftop of a sports hall at his school. His little brother was
only 8 when he lost his life and Bettany was just eight years older than him.
The actor had an unbreakable bond with his younger brother, and when death put its strain
on him he was unable to cope. The tragedy had a damaging effect on Bettany's entire family.
He was painfully close to his younger brother and like most older siblings,
probably wanted to be there for him through anything and protect him from any harm. The
devastation the actor felt drew a knife through his personal relationship with his relatives.
"That was the end of family life from that point,
as often happens in families where there's a death of a child. ... life was never the same again."
The grieving actor felt alone in the whole world and alienated himself from friends.
As though he was harboring a dark secret about how unbearable life is and that none of them
would understand. As a result he turned to alcohol and substance abuse to try and numb
away the pain of loss, but nothing could make it hurt less or take that pain away.
This tragedy left a fatal gap in the actor's life that he thought some time alone would fill,
leaving home to take up basking on London's streets.
"I think that you start healing slowly,
and very much at a snail's pace," Paul said, recalling his loss.
The cuts ran so deep that the actor went through years of therapy,
to help him heal in a healthier way than he had opted for in his childhood.
While Paul was mourning his younger brother's passing,
there was something else that didn't make his life any easier. Bettany was struggling with dyslexia,
a learning disorder that would also affect him in his adult life. But while he was still young,
the actor would get bullied by other students at school. Imagine losing your brother at the
age of 16, struggling with school and having everyone make fun of you over it.
Perhaps all of these trials added to the boy's decision to drop out of school.
However, after two years, the young (soon to be) star needed to find a different
outlet for his troubles, and Drama School was just the answer he needed.
Bettany enrolled in a drama centre in London, and the rest is history.
Still, as he went on to pursue a career in acting, his condition did not make things easy for him.
The actor admitted that it takes him a lot longer to read a script than it
would if he didn't have dyslexia. When it's too hard to keep going,
he asks the director to tell him how the story ends so he has a general idea without having
to wait for ages to find out. It's safe to say this actor is unbothered by spoilers.
While Paul was following his dreams and taking on less notable movies, there was still a lot
more going on in his life. Although his family had mourned his little brother's death, another family
member had been dying inside, struggling to live freely. Bettany's father had been in a constant
battle with his own sexual identity. After years of marriage, the star's father divorced his mother
and finally found freedom in confessing his love for another man. The couple had lived
happily for 20 years before Paul's dad lost what his son considered "the love of his life".
Although his family was quite relieved when he finally shared the truth of
his sexuality with them, the actor says his father still battled with
self-acceptance and felt guilty for having had a relationship with a man in the first place.
"The shame he felt for his sexual identity was devastating. He was
unable to mourn the person who was the love of his life." the star shared.
His dad's shame rose from his Catholic faith. After his partner's death, his battle with
suxuality returned. He decided to reject the 20 years of love he had experienced with his partner,
dubbing the entire relationship quote "a big misunderstanding."
"The terrible thing for my father is that, in the end, he went back in the closet,
which was awful to watch, really," Bettany recalls.
The Marvel star believes that religion played a tremendous role in taking away
his father's freedom and silencing the truth he had fought so hard to finally accept.
Bettany thought that his dad's decision to deny his sexual identity was out of fear of,
quote, "getting past Peter through the pearly gates."
The actor had to watch his dad live a miserable life of self-loathing till his passing in 2015.
He took his dad's misfortunes as a learning curb that would shape him as a father. Bettany
continues to raise his children with the same moral standing he adopted throughout his life,
not to be judgemental. The star believes in a life of nothing but honesty, and he drives these values
into his kids because he doesn't want them to grow up and suffer in silence the way his dad did.
"I really want my children, and I want everybody,
to just live authentically as the person they are, and however hard that is,
it's absolutely better than pretending to be something other than you are."
The actor is not only concerned about raising his children well,
but he is nothing short of a Family man too. He doesn't have a tough time balancing his career
and family life. If faced with the decision to choose between the two, acting would come second.
The actor took no time to reject the role that was written specifically for him
in the iconic film King's Speech - which would've been perfect, considering he has
a real-life royal connection. It turns out that Bettany's late dad was the godfather to
the Countess of Wessex, Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yfv6fp9Dn0
0:17), and his attendance at Sophie's wedding was no regular invitation but "by royal command."
However, this family history was not enough to convince the actor to accept the role. He
had just finished shooting another film, Priest, and had not seen his family for over four months.
Although they had come out to see him while he was filming on set, the actor worried because
they had not been apart for more than two weeks. His children usually find it stressful when he
is not around, and the idea of turning into an absent father terrifies the actor. He would,
instead, turn down "the occasional film that does well" for an unbreakable bond with his children.
"I really would regret it, in 20 years time, if I was looking at my children,
realising, 'somebody else raised you. I wasn't there. I was paying for somebody to raise you'."
With the number of religious roles the actor always seems to land, you would think they
would have some influence over his life. You may recognise him as the blasphemous yet heroic
angel from Legion, the priest in The Reckoning or Silas, the assassin monk who gets caught up in a
murder mystery in The Da Vinci Code. But playing these roles was just another job for the actor.
Although experiencing his father's battle with faith may have impacted Bettany's views on
religion, the actor was already a self-proclaimed Atheist. He began to distance himself from the
church after his confirmation. The idea of believing in God but being unable to see
the higher power is not an easy concept for the actor to wrap his head around.
"I don't see him." the star said, "It's not that I'm closed off to the argument,
but I do feel the burden of proof."
Interestingly enough, the actor is open to believing and travelled to a Creation Museum
with the hopes of finding proof that would convince him to convert. Instead,
the museum left his questions unanswered.
Although the star doesn't believe in a higher power, there must be an explanation behind the
miracle defining moment of his career. Years before he would join the Marvel universe,
the actor had a heated argument with a producer. In the end, the filmmaker told him that "his
career was over" and that he was "done in Hollywood". After leaving the office, grieving
what he was convinced was the end for him, the actor received a call that would change his life.
"I stepped out into Hollywood and I sat on the sidewalk with my feet in the gutter,
and I thought 'F--- me,'' Bettany recalled. "My phone rang and it was Joss Whedon and he said,
'Do you want to play the Vision in the next 'Avengers' movie?'' Bettany shared.
Not already know what followed:
the actor went on to grace the big screens as the superhero the world has come to love.
What surprised you the most about Paul Bettany's life? Let us know down in
the comments. Thank you for watching Rumour Juice.