Colin Farrell Starts Foundation To Honor Son With Special Needs: ‘I’m Proud Of Him Every Day’

Actor Colin Farrell is discussing a foundation he started to honor his 20-year-old son James, who has a rare neurogenetic condition called Angelman syndrome.

James is nonverbal and has a live-in caregiver. “I want the world to be kind to James,” the 48-year-old Irish actor told People during an interview published Wednesday. “I want the world to treat him with kindness and respect.”

Farrell said he started The Colin Farrell Foundation as a means to help families once children become too old for other established support systems. James, who the actor shares with ex-girlfriend Kim Bordenave, will turn 21 soon and therefore be too old for most programs designed to help individuals with special needs.

“Once your child turns 21, they’re kind of on their own,” Farrell told the outlet. “All the safeguards that are put in place, special ed classes, that all goes away, so you’re left with a young adult who should be an integrated part of our modern society and more often than not is left behind.”

“This is the first time I’ve spoken about it, and obviously the only reason I’m speaking is I can’t ask James if he wants to do this,” he added. “I mean, I can. I speak to James as if he’s 20 and has perfect fluency with the English language and age-appropriate cognitive ability. But I can’t discern a particular answer from him as to whether he’s comfortable with all this or not, so I have to make a call based on knowing James’s spirit and what kind of young man he is and the goodness that he has in his heart.”

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Farrell also said James “has worked so hard all his life, so hard.” He continued, “Repetition, repetition, balance, his jerky gait. When he started feeding himself for the first time, his face looks like a Jackson Pollock by the end of it. But he gets it in, he feeds himself beautifully. I’m proud of him every day, because I just think he’s magic.”

The Academy Award-nominated actor said he “for years wanted to do something in the realm of providing greater opportunities for families who have a child with special needs, to receive the support that they deserve, basically the assistance in all areas of life.”

He said individuals with special needs have “earned the right to have a greater degree of individuality and autonomy on life, and a greater degree of community.”

“This is all because of James— it’s all in his honor,” he said of starting the foundation.