Barry Keoghan Opens Up About His Mother Who Died of an Overdose: 'She Was Battlin' a Lot of Stuff'

Barry Keoghan's mother Debbie struggled with addiction and died when he was 12

Barry Keoghan is sharing some memories of his late mother, Debbie.

In a new GQ cover story published Tuesday, Keoghan, 31, spoke to his life growing up in Dublin without a father, his mother's death when he was a child, and his years spent in the foster care system before he fell in love with acting. Now a certified movie star by way of his leading role in Saltburn — and his Academy Award nomination last year for The Banshees of Inisherin — the actor said he still feels "a massive loneliness" despite his fame and success.

“When I’m isolated? Obviously, my mother," Keoghan said, when asked what he thinks about when he feels alone. "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?”

Keoghan's mother struggled with addiction and died of a heroin overdose when he was 12, as The Irish Post reported in 2019. The actor then lived in 13 different foster homes before he and his brother Eric moved in with their grandmother. He told GQ that Debbie did know he enjoyed performing and took to calling him "little Timmy" as a nickname.

"I don’t know why,” he shared. “She’d be like, ‘Where’s my little Timmy?’ I’d love to make her laugh, and just dance for her.”

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“She was in the hospital,” he added. The article notes Debbie "wasn't really in his life" before she died. “She was battlin’ a lot of stuff.”

Elsewhere in the article, Keoghan recalled living in the foster care system before his grandmother, aunt and his cousin moved in together after his mother's death. Keoghan told the outlet he has resolved to buy them their own home.

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Keoghan also shared with the outlet that he does not feel his story is unique among those who grow up in Dublin.

“Dublin 1, we call it—the postcode is 1. It’s proper inner city. It’s the heart, man," he said. "And y’know, every inner city has its problems and faces its battles. Everyone’s kind of going through the same stuff there.”

Aside from Saltburn, Keoghan also appeared in the 2023 Netflix series Top Boy. He will next portray an American World War II pilot in the upcoming Apple TV+ miniseries Masters of the Air, set to debut Jan. 26.

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