{"id":475311,"date":"2026-06-13T11:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T11:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/475311\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T11:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T11:15:08","slug":"toby-stephens-i-lost-my-dad-to-cirrhosis-the-only-difference-between-us-was-that-tragically-he-couldnt-stop-drinking-life-and-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/475311\/","title":{"rendered":"Toby Stephens: \u2018I lost my dad to cirrhosis. The only difference between us was that, tragically, he couldn\u2019t stop drinking\u2019 | Life and style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born in London, Toby Stephens, 57, is the son of actors Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens. He trained at Lamda and, in 1992, made his film debut in Orlando. In 2002 he played the Bond villain in Die Another Day. His television work includes One Day, The Split and Black Sails. On stage he has performed for the RSC and the National Theatre<\/a>, and he is currently starring in Equus at London\u2019s Menier Chocolate Factory, until 4 July, and then Theatre Royal Bath, from 14-25\u00a0July. He is married to the actor Anna\u2011Louise Plowman, with whom he has three children, and lives in London.<\/p>\n

What is your greatest fear?
To be completely alone.<\/p>\n

What is the trait you most deplore\u00a0in\u00a0others?
Vanity.<\/p>\n

What was your most embarrassing\u00a0moment?
I was in a restaurant with my daughter in Los Angeles and I had an accident involving a stomach upset. That was mortifying for both of us.<\/p>\n

What is your most treasured\u00a0possession?
My wife.<\/p>\n

What makes you unhappy?
Social media.<\/p>\n

What do you most dislike about\u00a0your\u00a0appearance?
The width of my body. I look like\u00a0a\u00a0fridge.<\/p>\n

If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?
My mother.<\/p>\n

Who would play you in the\u00a0film\u00a0of\u00a0your\u00a0life?
Damian Lewis, because we\u2019re always mistaken for one another.<\/p>\n

What is your most unappealing habit?
I can talk over people.<\/p>\n

What scares you about getting older?
Everything.<\/p>\n

Which book are you ashamed not\u00a0to\u00a0have read?
Ulysses \u2013 I\u2019ve tried many times and\u00a0never got through it.<\/p>\n

What is the worst thing anyone\u2019s\u00a0said\u00a0to you?
A review of Ph\u00e8dre said \u2013 because I was quite large at the time \u2013 Toby\u00a0Stephens\u2019s Hippolytus needs\u00a0to\u00a0get on\u00a0a StairMaster.<\/p>\n

What was the last lie you told?
That my wife\u2019s shoes went well with\u00a0her dress \u2013 I just wanted to\u00a0get\u00a0out\u00a0of the house.<\/p>\n

What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Cigars.<\/p>\n

What do you owe your parents?
My mother particularly was very practical. She was, like, \u201cWhat kind of\u00a0plays do you like, what movies do\u00a0you like? Don\u2019t just sit back and expect this thing to happen; you need\u00a0to be actively cultivating and\u00a0curating your own taste.\u201d<\/p>\n

What did you dream about last night?
That I was making a very low\u2011budget\u00a0movie and I couldn\u2019t fit\u00a0into my\u00a0costume.<\/p>\n

If you could edit your past, what\u00a0would you change?
There was a very large part of my 20s where I was an alcoholic, and an addict. When I lost my dad to cirrhosis, I knew that the only difference between us was that, tragically, he\u00a0couldn\u2019t stop whereas I could.<\/p>\n

When did you last cry and why?
I cry all the time. It\u2019s embarrassing. I\u00a0mostly cry when my children perform something at school. My wife regularly says, \u201cDo you see any other fathers weeping?\u201d But I can\u2019t stop myself.<\/p>\n

How often do you have sex?
Not enough.<\/p>\n

How would you like to be remembered?
Fondly.<\/p>\n

What is the most important lesson\u00a0life\u00a0has taught you?
Never ever think that things are going\u00a0to turn out all right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Born in London, Toby Stephens, 57, is the son of actors Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens. He trained…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-475311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}