Boys’ day out. Garrett Hedlund channeled the Lion King while sharing a rare photo of his son, Rhodes, whom he shares with ex-girlfriend Emma Roberts.
“A Very ‘Simba-bolic’ Moment❤️,” the Country Strong star, 37, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, July 26, alongside a photo of him holding the 18-month-old up above his head. “Meet the BASS PRO SHOP BUFFALO. [It’s] Daddies Spirit Animal.😂💪” Hedlund also included a sweet snap of him holding his son in his arms, pointing up at the animals in question.
The Friday Night Lights star and Roberts, 31, who were first linked in March 2019, welcomed Rhodes in December 2020. “Emma and Garrett are getting more and more excited, which is so nice for them,” a source told Us Weekly one month before the Unfabulous alum gave birth. “Garrett is really looking forward to becoming a dad and feels as though this is something he needed. He is ready to take on all the daddy duties, and Emma getting pregnant has forced him to become more responsible. He thinks that’s a blessing.”
Hedlund previously gushed about how much he’s enjoyed fatherhood, telling Extra in August 2021 that the “best part” of becoming a dad has been getting to spend time with his little one while Roberts was working.
“I’ve done a lot of dad things,” the Four Brothers star said at the time. “It was every day all day with mister young man. My favorite part of every day was the bedtime stories [with] me telling him stories of his grandfathers, which was wonderful for me and hopefully him. It was just a really sweet, connecting dad moment.”
Us confirmed in January that Hedlund and the Scream Queens alum called it quits after nearly three years together, with a source adding the next month that things were “amicable” between the pair. The split came shortly after Hedlund was arrested for public intoxication in Franklin County, Tennessee. He was taken into police custody on January 23 and released the next day on bond.
“Garrett and Emma have a great coparenting relationship,” the insider continued. “When he’s sober, he’s a great guy and they’ve been handling coparenting very well. … They have a very amicable relationship with each other and are being very adult about their breakup.”
Despite their split, the Troy actor has continued to praise Roberts publicly. “Happy Mother’s Day to the most beautiful mother, dear Emma!” Hedlund gushed in a handwritten note that he shared via Instagram in May. “You gave us a gift who never ceases to melt our hearts, amaze our minds, and make all the anythings just fly away, from morning till night. All my love.”
The American Horror Story alum, for her part, has opened up about how raising Rhodes helped her discover her true self. “I’m at a place where I can say, ‘I may not have got everything right but I like who I am more than I ever have,’” she told Tatler in January. “My life has changed more in the past two years than it did in the 28 years beforehand and I love where I’m standing now at the age of 30.”
She continued: “I want him to be respectful and intelligent at school but also in life. What it means to be a man is being rewritten right now and I hope my contribution to the world can be raising an amazing boy who turns into an amazing man. I want him to feel that there’s nothing he couldn’t ask or tell me.”
