Working fathers have guilt, too. Single dad Bill Hader broke down while discussing his kids Hannah, 9, Harper, 6, and Hayley, 4, in a new interview with Variety.
“I think I saw my kids a total of five days all summer,” Hader said. “It was terrible. So, I’m going, ‘Next summer I’m taking off.’ And I’m going to spend every day with them. It’s this weird thing when you’re in this industry, you don’t have time to be with them, and it’s really, really difficult. I’m getting emotional right now talking about it.”
Later, the Barry actor revealed it was the first time he has ever cried while doing press.
Hader, who appears on the cover of the magazine’s Golden Globes issue, shares his children with ex-wife Maggie Carey. The former couple split in 2017 after 11 years of marriage.
The comedian and the filmmaker were introduced by a mutual friend in Los Angeles and moved to New York City when he was cast on Saturday Night Live in 2005. Hader noted that the show took a toll on their relationship.
“When I was on SNL, I was a bit of a basket case,” Hader noted. “It could not have been easy on my wife at the time. I was so consumed with work and anxiety.”
Panic attacks and migraines also were a large part of Hader’s life. “Sometimes I felt like people thought, ‘Oh, he’s just wanting attention or something,’” he recalled. “It was like, ‘No, man, I’m legit. I’m freaking out right now.’”
When Harper was born, the 2019 Golden Globe nominee decided enough was enough, and in 2013, he exited the NBC late-night variety show. “I had to leave SNL,” he said. “It was hard with one kid, let alone two. Because I was never around.”
After season 2 of Barry wraps, Hader plans to write a movie screenplay at home, where he can spend time with his daughters. “They can see me all day if they want,” he quipped. “They can really get sick of me.”
