The death of Rob Delaney’s son, Henry, fundamentally changed the way he approaches Hollywood, prompting the “Deadpool” star to limit his workload and spend as much time as possible at home with his children.
Delaney lost his 2½-year-old son in 2018 after he battled a brain tumor. Henry had been diagnosed with cancer shortly after his first birthday.
“I had a son, his name was Henry, and he died, and he’s dead,” Delaney said during an appearance on Ted Danson’s podcast, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name.”
“You know, does he live on inside of me and in the smile of my wife and in the gaze of my other boys who are alive and vibrant? Yes, he does. But he died, and I don’t like to sugarcoat that, you know. And that affected how I work now.”
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Rather than building a production empire or juggling numerous projects like some peers, he chose to prioritize being physically present with his family.
“They’ve got their fingers in other pies,” he said. “I don’t do that. I just do one, maybe two things at a time to the best of my abilities, and then I just spend the rest of the time at home, you know, smelling my kids and having as many of them sit on me at one time as possible, you know.”
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For Delaney, that shift in priorities is inseparable from the grief he continues to carry.
“That’s a big part of me is metabolizing that the pain of the loss of Henry and then trying to be smart enough to let that inform how I do my career, because I think it would be a real shame if that happened and I didn’t change how I work, you know,” he explained. “That would be folly.”
Delaney spent years working in stand-up before gaining a major following on Twitter, where his offbeat comedy helped turn him into one of the platform’s earliest breakout comedians. In 2012, he was named Funniest Person on Twitter at Comedy Central’s Comedy Awards.
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His biggest career breakthrough came with “Catastrophe,” the acclaimed comedy series he co-created, co-wrote and starred in alongside Sharon Horgan from 2015 to 2019.
Some of Delaney’s top roles include “Deadpool 2,” “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Dying for Sex.”
