Christian Slater Opens Up About Reconnecting With ‘Manic-Depressive Schizophrenic’ Father

Christian Slater recently opened up about his renewed relationship with his father, who has long suffered from mental illness.

Christian Slater On His ‘Manic-Depressive Schizophrenic’  Father

Slater, perhaps best known for his starring turn in Heathers, recently chatted with his Nymphomaniac director Lars Von Triar for a new issue of Interview magazine. In the Q&A, Slater talked openly about his father, actor Michael Hawkins.

“He’s a manic-depressive schizophrenic,” Slater said.  “He’s always had trouble—he was a fantastic actor and extraordinarily charismatic and very, very good looking, but he had a really difficult time working with directors, collaborating with people.”

For awhile, Slater had lost touch with his father, but the two recently reconnected and have developed a closer relationship than they’ve had in years.

“In the last few months my father actually reached out to me and wanted to reconcile and reconnect,” Slater told Von Triar. “I was very grateful to be able to communicate with him. From a tumultuous, back-and-forth relationship, we were able to begin to build a better bridge for the both of us. So that was good.”

Slater, himself a father to two children with his first wife Ryan Haddon, remarried in 2013 to Brittany Lopez, and feels happy with both his marriage and his relationship with his kids. His career, which was at its high point in the late 80s and through the 90s, is also in a good place. He stars in 2015 festival hit The Adderall Diaries, will be heard voicing the title character in animated series Mr. Robot and is acting with Logan Lerman in the forthcoming drama The Wife.

“It is probably more golden than I will ever acknowledge, you know?” Slater said of his life to Von Triar.