‘Homeland’ Star Missed Birth of Daughter

Rupert Friend is getting real about how his professional life can sometimes conflict with his personal life, unfortunately causing him to miss milestones. The Homeland star recently appeared on the TODAY show and spoke about how being on the set of the new Jurassic Park film, Jurassic World Rebirth, made him miss the birth of his daughter.

Most of the film was made on location in Thailand. They also filmed in London and elsewhere, so he wasn’t necessarily close to home.

“We have a little baby girl who we’re calling a Jurassic baby because I’d flown back to New York – we were in London – I’d flown back here to visit with my wife and surprise her – came to London the next day and I’m hoisted up on a wire 100 feet in the air doing a stunt and the crew starts saying, ‘Get him down, get him down,’ [I ask] ‘What’s the problem?’ [They tell me] ‘Your wife’s on the phone’ and [I tell her] ‘Honey, I’m going to have to call you back. I am a little busy’ and they told me I really needed to come down. They got me down and my wife’s water had broken,” he said.

Trying to get there was nearly impossible. And while he wasn’t able to be physically present, technology came in and saved the day for the new father.

“It was a mad dash to get on the last seat on the last plane out of England to get all the way back to the States to be there for the birth, which I very sadly missed,” he recalled. “I saw it over Facetime, in the airport, crying my eyes out with everyone there thrusting champagne at me and nearly missed the flight because it was the fateful thing of, ‘Do I stay on FaceTime because I really need to see this? Or do I get on the plane and get there? And then that wonderful sound at the airport came on and said ‘Ding dong, your flight is delayed.’”

The actor has been married to Aimee Mullins since 2016. They do not share photos of their daughter online.