Josh Brolin is opening up about a “horrible” childhood story involving father James Brolin. The Dune: Part Two actor, 56, recounted when his Emmy Award-winning father slaughtered and fed his family Josh’s pet pig without telling him during the Nov. 20 episode of the In Depth with Graham Bensinger interview series.
“Did he tell you the pig story? What a [expletive],” Josh said when Graham Bensinger implied that James, 84, previously told him the story. “God, man. I don’t know what — my dad, oh my dad tells stories.”
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“So this story of me raising pigs — this is a horrible story, man — me raising pigs. Oink and Snort, those were their names,” Josh continued. “And I helped raise these pigs and we’re eating dinner one night — it’s amazing to me that he would tell you this story, it makes him look so bad — he said, ‘Guess what you’re eating.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Either Oink or Snort.’”
Josh said he still is confused as to why his dad would do such a thing. “I was like ‘What?’ And he went, ‘That’s what we’re eating, that’s who we slaughtered,’” Josh remembered. “I was like ‘Why would you tell a kid that?’ It makes no sense. Why would you tell your kid that with any semblance of celebration? Or was he just looking to have an impact? I think he was looking to have an impact … whether it’s a negative impact or not.”
As a father to four children, Josh said he “can break it down to being mad” but “can’t imagine” saying something like that to his own children. “It doesn’t even — it’s nowhere in my universe to say that to a kid,” he continued. “Why would you?”
Josh said that he had talked to his father about the incident, “But my dad’s an interesting — not to reveal too much — but my dad’s an interesting guy in that he’s super friendly, but there’s a stop sign,” he explained. “It’s like before you get on the freeway the red light, you’re ready to go … and the light never turns.”
