Taron Egerton has not spoken to his father in years.
When Dax Shepard gave him room to address that estrangement on Monday’s episode of Armchair Expert, the 36-year-old Welsh actor did not offer a list of grievances, assign blame, or explain the precise moment the relationship broke down. Instead, he described something more gradual: a bond that had once been functional became harder as he got older and eventually reached a point where he chose to step away.
The Aug. 10 episode widened beyond that family history. Egerton also spoke about Colin Firth’s role as a steadying presence during a difficult period on the first Kingsman set, as well as the weight changes and body image struggles that followed him through much of his twenties.
What Egerton said about his father despite years of estrangement, and what he specifically chose not to say, is where the episode becomes worth following.
What He Said About His Father
He described the decision clearly but deliberately left the underlying reasons private.
During his conversation with Shepard, Taron said that while growing up, he and his father “were able to maintain a sort of fairly, kind of, functional relationship,” but as he got older, that became more difficult. He added that he hasn’t spoken to him in many years.
Egerton also drew a clear line around how much he was willing to make public. “I’m reluctant to talk too much detail about him because he’s, you know, living his own life,” he said. His father, David, is a Liverpudlian bed-and-breakfast owner and musician.
Egerton’s own summary stayed brief, and strikingly final. “I’ll always love him, I just don’t think we work very well in terms of our relationship and so there was a point where I pushed the ejector seat and haven’t seen him since.”
How He Still Sees His Father
The most significant line in the episode was not the estrangement itself but how Egerton reportedly described his father.
He said: “Generally speaking, I find that I am happier and more functional when I try and view everyone else as just trying their best. With some people that’s really challenging, but I don’t find that challenging with my father. I think he is a guy who wanted to be a good dad.”
That generosity in his description sat beside another fact he chose to mention: David was 23 when Egerton was born.
The episode placed those ideas next to each other: Egerton believes his father wanted to be a good parent, and Egerton also concluded that the relationship no longer worked well enough to continue.
The Childhood That Came Before
His parents separated when Egerton was a toddler, and the upbringing that followed centered almost entirely on his mother.
Christine, a social worker, moved with him from the Birkenhead area near Liverpool to Wales. They lived on Anglesey until Egerton was 12, then relocated to Aberystwyth, while she was earning a degree and raising him alone. He met his stepfather at 14.
Looking back, Egerton reportedly mentioned that he now sees part of that childhood differently. “In hindsight, I think being raised by a single mom who was pursuing a degree and trying to make ends meet … looking back, I think I was possibly a little more anxious than I was aware of until quite recently,” he said.
He followed it immediately with another point he did not want lost. “But she was a great mom; I never felt that I wanted anything or missed anything.”
What Colin Firth Did on Set
Egerton described Firth as “fatherly” during a stretch when the director was sending him home from set.
While filming the first Kingsman, Egerton was dealing with a breakup with his first girlfriend and was, in his words, “really aggressively partying to deal with it and was coming in … in a bad way.” Director Matthew Vaughn confronted the problem directly. “I remember there were a couple of days on Kingsman where Matt was like, you’re going home. I can’t film you today,” Egerton said.
Firth took a different approach. “He was never anything other than gentle and fatherly and understanding,” Egerton said. After Firth saw the finished film, he sent Egerton four words by text: “You are note perfect.”
That memory still stands out in Egerton’s account. He told Shepard that one reason he’d like to make another Kingsman installment is “because it would be fun to get to ride with Colin once more.”
Peak Shape, Then the Opposite
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Egerton described reaching the best physical condition of his life during the first Kingsman shoot, and then losing it almost immediately after filming ended.
He told Shepard that production coincided with a personal physical peak. “I was in incredible shape for that movie. And it was the most, I felt, I think for the first time in my life, I felt really beautiful,” he said. He called the feeling “completely intoxicating” and said he felt “invincible.”
The change after filming was abrupt. “When we finished the movie, I just went bang the other way, and I gained so much weight,” he said, describing weight fluctuation as part of his adult life.
Egerton also said that through his twenties, he never felt “camera ready.” He said he only got “a handle on it” in his thirties, a struggle that followed the exhilaration he had described during that first Kingsman shoot.
What His Family Looks Like Now
Egerton’s immediate family today includes people who weren’t there when his parents’ relationship ended.
His mother, Christine, and his stepfather have two daughters together, now 13 and 16. Egerton was the only child of Christine and David’s relationship.
Throughout the Armchair Expert episode, Egerton stayed careful about the limits of what he would share publicly about his father. He confirmed the estrangement, described his own decision to end contact, and said the relationship had gradually stopped working. He did not point to a single incident or explain what changed.
He also described his father as a man who meant well, leaving that assessment beside the decision to remain apart without trying to explain away either one. That is the full picture Egerton put on the record. The conversation about his father, beyond that, remains his alone.
When a relationship no longer works, but the love doesn’t go away, how do you hold both?
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