Theo James had certain fears about becoming a boy dad.
“Capitalism is the dominant force and for those who are celebrated, irrespective of what you might be, for those who are stinking wealthy and driving around in flash cars [that] has been epitomized by Trumpism and every thing that goes with that,” James, 41, said on the Wednesday, April 8, episode of Josh Smith’s Great Chat Show, referencing the cultural influence of President Donald Trump. “It’s terrifying having a son because people get lured into this concept very easily.”
He continued, “You don’t must be ‘hyperwoke,’ nevertheless it’s a few base level of empathy and a few semblance of morality. I believe now that isn’t cool. It’s not cool to discuss those things. It’s cool to be like, ‘F*** you, I earn a great deal of money.’ But, at the top of the day, there’s a deep emptinessiness inside that as everyone knows and eventually all those people will discover.”
James and his wife, Ruth Kearney, welcomed their son in late 2023. (The couple also share a daughter, who was born in 2021.)
“Now we have a 4-month-old. We’re within the thick of it,” James said on the Emmy Awards in January 2024, confirming that Kearney, 41, gave birth months earlier. “Now we have a daughter after which a 4-month-old son.”
James and Kearney, who’ve been married since 2018, haven’t publicly revealed their children’s names and maintain a non-public family life. As they continue to be out of the general public eye, James is hopeful to boost his son without the influence of toxic masculinity.
“I [also] try to have conversations with my friends and be open about mental health and for those who’re combating things,” James said on Wednesday’s episode. “I believe it’s super necessary because mental health affects plenty of men.”
The White Lotus alum further believes that toxic masculinity “comes right down to a fact of an unclear identity.”
“They feel untethered, reduced. I believe the misogyny comes from a lot of successful, strong women around them. They don’t know tips on how to take care of that,” he speculated. “They’re confused by who they’re or who they ought to be, and the best thing to do is to latch on to something [whether it’s] money, going to the gym plenty of telling people to ‘go f*** themselves.’ That’s easy.”
A person’s identity can even affect body image, which James believed is “an issue.”
“It continually evolves and changes once we discuss men, obviously, women have handled it for hundreds of years they usually proceed to accomplish that,” James acknowledged. “With men, I believe the thought of, and again it goes into this sort of toxic masculinity thing about identity and forming identity through your body [where] you will have to be larger and more muscular, more swole.”