Not many people knew about Ewan McGregor’s family life as the Moulin Rouge!, Big Fish, Trainspotting, Angels and Demons, Ghost Writer, and Star Wars actor tries to keep his personal life fairly silent.
However, recently, two of his four children have been in the news. And if we do a little digging back in time, it seems that McGregor and his family have been the subject of a few news publications, even if they tended to slip past the majority of us. Since we now know that he is, in fact, a papa, we’re naturally curious about the way he conducts himself at home.
After all, we tend to be the most interested in celebrities who try to conceal the details of their lives. We always want what we can’t have. Well, after a bit of research, we can now give you exactly what you desire. This list will delve into the home life of Ewan McGregor, his parenting style, the relationships he has with his children, and the one with the woman he thought would be the love of his life, Eve Mavrakis. Without further ado, here are 20 things fans should know about Ewan McGregor as a dad.
20. A VERY “HOLLYWOOD” WAY OF HONORING HIS FOUR DAUGHTERS
Ewan McGregor may be an actor in Hollywood, but he’s certainly not the typical celebrity. This may have something to do with the fact that he’s from Scotland and thus removed from a lot of the L.A. lifestyle. Still, the actor did find a way of honoring his four children that is pretty “Hollywood” — he got a family tattoo. Yep, McGregor has a heart and dagger tattoo of the names of four children on his right arm. These names include Clara, Esther, and his two adopted children, Jamiyan, who was adopted from Mongolia in 2006, and his youngest, Anouk. The tattoo also includes (or included*) the name of his baby-mama, Eve Mavrakis. But seeing that the two are no longer together, there’s a chance that he had her name taken off.
19. TO SAY THAT CLARA WASN’T HAPPY ABOUT HER PARENTS’ SPLIT WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT
To say that Clara McGregor was upset about her parents’ split would be the understatement of the century. On January 19th, 2018, McGregor filed for divorce from his wife of over two decades. He fell for actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, whom he met on the set of season 3 of Fargo. Clara was quick to side with her mother and begin an on-and-off-again battle with her father that has lasted to this very day. She even took the time to comment on Elizabeth Winstead’s photo, utterly taking her down when responding to someone who called her the “most beautiful and talented woman on earth.” Even though Clara’s knife-throwing would continue, she did feel some remorse, saying, “not to make excuses or anything, but, yeah, it wasn’t my finest moment. But I’m not afraid to speak out if I feel strongly about something.”
18. ESTHER WAS MORE CREATIVE ABOUT HER UNHAPPINESS WITH HER DAD
Although Ewan McGregor’s daughters all knew that he had left his mother, they were still very unhappy when the press released images of their father with a new woman. The photos were released on Esther McGregor’s birthday, which didn’t exactly make her feel the greatest. Although her response to this whole thing was far more creative than her sister Clara’s, who wanted to lash out at Mary Elizabeth Winstead, her father, and the press. Instead of doing that, Esther wrote and performed a song on her social media that included the lyrics, “Seeing those pictures, they’re making me cry,” and “I don’t know how to forgive / I don’t know if I can.”
17. BAD TIMES WERE KEPT HIDDEN FROM THE PRESS FOR AWHILE
A lot of what was going on behind the scenes with Ewan, his wife, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and his kids, was unknown to the press for the longest time. In fact, Clara later mentioned that she and her sisters knew what was happening long before the press found out about it. But that didn’t mean that there wasn’t a sting when photos of Ewan and Winstead together were released. In fact, the release happened on her little sister’s birthday and this really didn’t land well with her. Throughout all of this, Clara McGregor has insisted that she remains close to her father even though she has publicly stated that she fully has her mother’s back in this. We guess that the family was going through this change for a while, thus getting them used to what the press would later write about them.
16. HE TRIED TO KEEP HIS KIDS AWAY FROM THE SPOTLIGHT… IT DIDN’T WORK
In an interview, Ewan McGregor said that he and his ex-wife have “worked hard to keep them insulated from all the celebrity stuff and they are quite ‘unbothered’ by what I do.” He said this because keeping his daughters away from the entertainment industry was something that he wanted to do, at least while they were young. He hoped that he would be able to dissuade them from becoming models, actors, or singers. Unfortunately for him, two of his daughters went straight into the entertainment industries. Both Clara and Esther have become the faces of Fendi. The pair of beautiful blondes have been endorsing numerous products and have been picked up by various modeling agencies. Clara has a desire to turn her modeling life into one that involves acting, which is why she’s been training up in that department. On top of it all, the pair have thousands and thousands of followers on social media.
15. THIS PARENTAL TEAM EMBRACED A LACK OF RULES
Okay, so this title is slightly misleading. Ewan and his wife Eve totally had rules for their kids while they were growing up. But both of them acknowledge that there aren’t any rules for parenting itself. This, according to Ewan, is what makes parenting so gosh darn challenging. If there were rules for how to guide, shape, discipline, and educate one’s child, the whole thing would be so much easier. The thing that Ewan has learned about parenting is that being flexible is the most important. By being flexible, Ewan was able to alter himself and his values to better suit the needs and desires of each of his kids, especially as teenagers. So, when it came to parenting, embracing a lack of specific rules was helpful as it allowed he and his ex-wife both to be more flexible, understanding, and more influential.
14. BEING A DEVOTED FATHER CAME NATURALLY
While doing an interview with Dad, Big Fish and Fargo actor, Ewan McGregor, spoke about the fact that he found parenting quite easy in his first few years. At least, he claimed that being a dad came naturally to him and he didn’t have to stretch too far to do his duties. Of course, as time went by, things became more challenging, especially when it came to dealing with his teenagers. And due to the fact that other than the dog, he was the only male in the entire household. But he said that he took the responsibility very seriously from the start and actually didn’t find it all that hard to try to get to know his kid’s and build a relationship with them that was built on mutual respect and him being a leader and enforcer of rules.
13. HE FOUND HIS TEENAGERS OH SO VERY “STRANGE”
With Clara now in her early twenties, Ewan really only has to worry about his two current teenagers and the one who is on her way to becoming one. When asked about his experiences with teenagers, Ewan said that he has always found them very odd as it’s challenging to reason with them and get on their level. He said that he constantly had to alter himself in order to suit his daughter’s needs. This is currently true of Esther, but it was definitely true of Clara. He elaborated on this in an interview, saying, “The first and most important step was seeing my daughter as an individual who has her own mind and thoughts. This was incredibly difficult as she transitioned to teenage-hood. However, by allowing her to use her voice and to feel its inherent power, l sent her a message of trust and respect.”
12. IN THE MCGREGOR HOUSEHOLD, EVERYONE IS ALLOWED TO BE WHO THEY ARE
Recently, both Clara and Esther McGregor took a stand against the organizers of Coachella for their supposed negative stance on progressive social issues, despite the fact that their festival celebrates this very thing. For the same reasons that Cara Delevinge won’t attend Coachella, Clara and Esther decided not to go. In their public statements on social media, both girls decided to mention the fact that they don’t just like boys. They, in fact, also like girls. This was something that was new to the public eye but not something new in the McGregor household. Both Ewan and Eve have always been incredibly clear that they wanted their daughters to be exactly who they are and not to change to fit social conventions. They also wanted their daughters to express themselves any way they see fit.
11. PARENTING MEANT ACTUALLY SPENDING TIME WITH THEM
Celebrity dad Ewan McGregor once told an interviewer about his desire to actually spend time with his kids. This was one of the ways he let them know that he cared about them and wanted to be part of their lives. He said, “If you’ve made a decision to play with your children, then play with them. Don’t be looking through the paper or your desk or sneaking off to the computer. Lose yourself in their world. Even if you do it for a short time, it will mean a lot to you and to them.” Clearly, this is something that we can all learn from. Being an active parent means having face-time and not letting distractions get in the way of building a bond of love, creativity, honesty, and fun.
10. EWAN’S DAUGHTER FAVORS HER MOM OVER HIM ANY DAY OF THE WEEK
There’s literally no doubt that Ewan McGregor’s eldest daughter, Clara, favors her mother over him. Although Ewan and Clara say that there’s a positive relationship had between the two of them, Clara has also publicly lashed out at her father too many times for us not to notice that there’s something up. While traveling with her mother this past January, Clara posted an image of her alongside comments about how gorgeous and wonderful her mother is. After a commenter mentioned that Clara might have to keep her away from her boyfriends, Clara responded, “Nah I keep her away from [bad] men who leave my goddess of a mother.” This is clearly some not so subtle shade sent in her father’s direction, something that she has never done to her mother.
9. A ROLLERCOASTER OF A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS ELDEST DAUGHTER
Does Clara dislike her father? Does she love him? Or is it a bit of both. Well, we seem to think that it’s a bit of both given the fact that every month there seems to be something new about their rollercoaster of a relationship. Ever since Ewan McGregor left his baby-mama, Clara has been vocal about her unhappiness, anger, and dislike of Ewan’s new girl. Still, she has been seen with him in public, like at the Tokyo, Japan premiere of Christopher Robin in 2018. They also attended the Tribeca Film Festival during the same year where Clara said that she was very proud of her dad and that they are very close. And yet, mere months later, she posted a pretty clear jab at her dad on social media. This rollercoaster ride featuring this father and daughter never seems to end.
8. WHEN CELEBRATING, TRUE FEELINGS ARE PUT ASIDE
Even though Ewan McGregor and his estranged wife, Eve Mavrakis, have had a pretty unpleasant split, they were able to put aside their differences for their daughter Clara. When Clara graduated from university in New York, the pair came together to celebrate their oldest child. Clara then posted this photo on social media with the caption, “That’s a wrap. Thank you to my wonderful parents for giving me the gift of a full education.” It’s nice to see that Ewan can prioritize his duties as a father and endure a pretty uncomfortable situation for the day in order to make his daughter happy and show her that he loves and supports her. The same should be said of Eve, who is easily the person least at fault in this whole scenario. Both acted like adults because that’s the sort of parents they are.
7. A LIFE DIVIDED BETWEEN FAMILY AND DESIRES
Ewan McGregor clearly is in a bit of a push-and-pull when it comes to his life as an actor, a boyfriend of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and his duties as a father. Unfortunately, due to his romantic feelings for Winstead, the two are somewhat incompatible. Still, he tries to bring these two worlds together as he did when he thanked both his ex-wife his new girlfriend in the same speech at the 2018 Golden Globes when he won an award for his work in Fargo. In his acceptance speech, he said, “‘I want to take a moment to just say thank you to Eve who always stood by me for 22 years and our four children Clara, Esther, Jamyan and Anouk.” And then he said, ” ‘And there wouldn’t have been any Ray [his Fargo character] without Mary Elizabeth Winstead.” When asked if she liked the speech, his ex, Eve, said that she absolutely did not.
6. ALL THE LATEST GADGETS WEREN’T IN HIS KIDS’ POCKETS
Although Ewan McGregor had all the money necessary to arm his kids with the latest gadget and toy, he chose not to. Of course, he could have spent all that Star Wars money on some cool things that would have made his daughters like him a bit more, he didn’t want his kids to feel entitled. When talking to Men’s Health, back when his eldest daughters were far younger, Ewan said that he doesn’t even buy his kids iPods. He wanted to set limits for them and encourage them to make their own money to purchase the things they wanted. He always didn’t want his kids to be overly reliant on technology when it comes to social interactions. This is something that his wife at the time also supported.
5. CULTURAL JUDAISM IS HIS FAMILY’S WAY OF LIFE
Many people will be taken aback to learn that Ewan McGregor is actually pretty involved in the Jewish faith and that his four daughters have all been brought up learning cultural Judaism. This is because of his ex-wife, Eve Mavrakis, who is a France-born Jewish woman. Ewan was born into a pretty relaxed version of the Christian faith but really didn’t have strong feelings about it. Although Eve isn’t religious at all, she wanted to instill the sense of community and culture in her children. This is very typical of the majority of Jewish people. Their ties to the monotheistic religion are more out of a desire for community and culture than spirituality or a belief in ancient text. Being that Judaism is also an ethnicity, a race, and a mysticism, this was something that someone who isn’t into organized religion, like Ewan, could easily adopt and encourage his children to take part in.
4. PAYING MORE IN CHILD SUPPORT OR NOT NEARLY ENOUGH
It’s pretty common for a split couple not to agree on child support payments. Sometimes the parent who left, usually the dad, is unhappy with their partner and don’t want money in their hands or help them out in any way. Other times, it’s purely a financial issue. We don’t know exactly what’s going on between Ewan McGregor and his ex-wife, Eve, when it comes to child support. And guessing would only create unfounded ideas that people may have. But Ewan McGregor has spoken about the fact that he has paid more child support than necessary while Eve has said that he hasn’t paid enough. Whatever the truth may be, this is a challenging thing for both parties to deal with, especially since their kids are caught in the middle of it all.
3. MAINTAINING A RELATIONSHIP WITH LINEAGE AND TRUE ROOTS
Ewan has said that his knowledge of parenting comes directly from his parents in Scotland. One of the most important parenting lessons that he took from them is the importance of politeness and manners. But Ewan’s relationship with his parents runs far deeper than lessons; he has true fondness and love for them which is why he makes sure that his four girls get to spend time with them as well. Ewan tends to take his girls to Crieff every summer to visit them. Because of this, his kids have not only built a connection with their grandparents but also to the land that bred them. Scotland is important to the McGregor family, meaning that they hold their lineage close to them and aren’t upset that they have to wear a kilt now and again.
2. HIS CHILDREN HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY CREATIVITY
Creativity runs in the McGregor family. Every one of them has taken part in the arts in some way or another, even if Ewan has tried to keep his daughters away from the spotlight. But try as he might, Ewan’s daughter truly found a love for the entertainment industries. However, Clara’s interests goes far beyond acting and modeling; she’s also into photography. Ever since she was little, she loved playing with cameras. Of course, nowadays, she spends more time in front of the camera as she’s become a pretty successful model. But expanding on her photography skills is something she wants to get into. What’s nice about this is the fact that Ewan, by proxy, clearly inspired his daughters to delve into their souls and embrace their creativity.
1. BEING CLOSE WITH HIS KIDS IS VITAL, EVEN UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES
Ewan has said that he has always tried to make sure that his daughters felt that they were each very special to him, even and especially when conflict and tensions are running high. Regardless, he always wanted them to know that he would make time for them. They are his daughters, after all, and they are the most important things in his life. Ewan also says that paying attention to them has really helped his relationship with them. He wants to know them and they know that. He makes sure of it. Perhaps this is why Clara has had such a challenging time moving away from him despite her unhappiness with what went down between her parents. This is something we can truly learn from; despite their circumstances, Ewan is still an attentive father who obviously loves his children, making them love him right back.