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Wuthering Heights' Charli XCX Addresses "Tortured Romantic" Era
Jason Bateman is ready to record his thoughts.
The Arrested Development star shared his reaction to the backlash he received after telling Charli XCX, who appeared on his SmartLess podcast earlier this month, that her stance on not wanting kids “could change” because she “might find somebody” who alters her opinion.
"Well, I'm married," the Grammy winner told Jason on the Feb. 2 episode, referring to her July wedding with The 1975’s drummer George Daniel. She had also explained that naming a child sounds “so fun,” noting, "The fact that that feels like the coolest part about it? Maybe I'm not ready."
After the episode’s release, fans online shared their disapproval of Jason’s questions, with one user calling the interview “one of the worst pieces of media of all time." Meanwhile, others pointed out the Emmy winner’s lack of knowledge about Charli, who has detailed her disinterest in having kids throughout her nearly two-decade music career.
Though the Zootopia 2 actor—dad to daughters Francesca, 19, and Maple, 14, with wife Amanda Anka—had kept mum about the interview since its debut, he recently shared his thoughts on the uproar.
“We were having a great conversation about her life growing up as an only child,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Feb. 18. “It seemed like a very natural follow-up to that. That’s all it was.”
The 57-year-old added, “I don’t really have much [else] to say about it, except that it is always interesting and valuable and educational to hear people’s thoughts, reactions and feelings to anything I say or do.”
Of course, it’s not the only life experience he has found “educational” throughout his life in the public eye. Indeed, since Jason appeared on Little House on the Prairie at 11 years old, he has dealt with many highs and lows, including a period of little work in the ‘90s that gave way to his abuse of drugs and alcohol.
Jeff Spicer/WireImage; Karwai Tang/WireImage
“Fortunately, I was living at a time without social media and camera phones,” he shared, “so I got away with a lot, but it was definitely close a few times.”
However, with the help of his wife Amanda, Jason was able to find his way to sobriety and focus on his career.
“She didn’t demand that I completely absolve,” he explained, “but that was sort of the back-and-forth, and I was like, well, I feel like my [sobriety] ETA is six months away, but if I could land this plane now, it would alleviate a lot of the tension, so let’s just f--king do it.”
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