Brendan Fraser gets candid about raising autistic son: my ‘kid has the most joy’

Speaking about his experiences during a recent interview with Howard Stern on SiriusXM radio show, Brendan Fraser opened up about raising eldest son,Griffin Fraser, who has autism, per People Magazine.

The Whale actor, 54, shared that there was a reason why he makes an effort to reach out to fans with autism at public events.

“My oldest son is autistic, and I know how meaningful it is to their families and to them. It means a lot to feel like you can gratify someone just by showing up, it means a lot.”

He then detailed how he reacted when he first found out about his diagnosis. “When I found out my kid’s diagnosis at 22 or 24 months, I was crestfallen, to say the least,” he shared. “The first reaction that I had was, ‘I want to know how to fix this. What’s the cure? What does this mean?’”

He explained, “You're just hit with a baseball bat in the back of the side of the head. Like what? This isn't the way it's supposed to turn out. You blame yourself and you think, 'my genealogy or 'I smoked weed in college,' you start blaming yourself over the reasons why."

“It's like trying to get a straight answer out of a f------ leprechaun,” he said, explaining how difficult it is to accept that the best answer professionals currently have is that autism occurs “for reasons unknown.”

However, Fraser noted that he quickly learned that he “wouldn’t have any other way.”

“This kid has the most joy onboard of anyone I know, and he happens to be related to me as my son. I want to know what he thinks is so gut-bustingly funny all day long, in a genuine way, he's cracking himself up. He loves to go for a ride in the car. It doesn't matter where you're taking him.”

Asked if Griffin's diagnosis contributed to marital issues between him and ex-wife Afton Smith — with whom he also shares sons Leland, 16, and Holden, 18 — Fraser explained, "I paid more attention to my professional life than my personal one. That's just me."

"But with Griffin, all bets are off. Who cares what our problems are with each other? That doesn't matter," he pointed out. "It's under a white flag, and we do anything and everything in support of this boy's needs and his brother's. That's what I was able to commit to in the most meaningful way."