Paul Bettany says 'enormous guilt' followed brother Matthew's childhood death

Mixed · 2Actor Paul Bettany, 55, spoke on the Sibling Revelry podcast, in an episode released on Tuesday, about the guilt he has carried since his brother Matthew died in a childhood accident. 1 2 Mixed · 2Bettany was 16 when Matthew, aged eight, fell from the roof of a building at a school in Hertfordshire where their father worked as a drama teacher and where the family lived on the grounds. 2 1 Mixed · 2The Daily Mail describes the building as a tennis pavilion at Queenswood School, near Hatfield; the Evening Standard refers to the roof of a school and a boarding school. 1 2

Centre · 1Bettany said Matthew was probably playing hide and seek when he fell from a building Bettany had taught him to climb, adding: "there was an enormous amount of guilt to work through on that." 2 Mixed · 2Bettany said the death was part of the reason for ending up busking on the streets. Both outlets report that Bettany left school and moved to London after Matthew's death, earning money busking with a guitar. 1 2 Mixed · 2Both outlets note Bettany has previously said he turned to alcohol and cocaine to cope, and has said: "I thought I should have stuck close to him - been there for him - but I wasn't." 1 2

Mixed · 2Bettany said it took "a lot of therapy" to find a way out of what he called the "maze" of childhood. He said the big revelations came in calmer periods, because during crisis he was "just too busy trying to stay on the earth". 2 1 Right · 1He said he eventually learned that not every problem in his life traced back to the trauma of losing Matthew, which can feel like a divide between life before and after. 1 Mixed · 2The Daily Mail also reports that Bettany said the death had "exploded" the family and caused a "real psychological break"; the Evening Standard attributes that remark to a 2021 interview with The Independent. 1 2

Right · 1On acting, Bettany said drama school "saved" him by giving a place to turn very negative things into something creative, and that a character was a mask to hide behind. The Daily Mail says Bettany found performing his own songs too exposing. 1 Mixed · 2Both outlets say Bettany thinks of Matthew when he needs to cry on camera; the Daily Mail adds that he has kept his late brother's belongings near the set, including a jumper worn on Uncle Frank (2020). 2 1 Right · 1The Daily Mail alone reports Bettany's view that Matthew's death may have contributed to the decision of their father, Thane Bettany, to return to the closet decades later. Thane came out as gay at 63 and, after the death of his partner, returned to his Catholic faith and insisted he was straight. Bettany said: "He had to get into heaven as a straight man so he could see his son who had died." 1

Mixed · 2The Daily Mail recalls a 2015 reflection in which Bettany said of the accident, "It was nobody's fault. It was the awfulness that is bad luck." The Evening Standard instead gives Bettany's career background, including Drama Centre London, the Royal Shakespeare Company and early film roles, and ends with a Mind helpline number. 1 2