Calista Flockhart says Harrison Ford has 'evolved into' a good father
Despite what Harrison Ford said, woman Calista Flockhart thinks he's a pretty good dad, after decades of experience.
“I think he was a very good father in many ways,” Flockhart, 59, said. The New York Times in a profile published on Friday, January 26, while talking about their son Liam, now 23. “Maybe because he was in round 2 or round 3, so he had matured and, I think, evolved into a good father. He is such a good father to his children now. I love his children, my stepchildren.”
When Ford, 81, and Flockhart first met at the 2002 Golden Globes, he was still in the middle of a divorce and the Ally McBeal alum had just adopted Liam.
“It didn't deter me,” Ford told the newspaper NYT of meeting Flockhart when she was a new mother. 'When I met Liam he was just starting to walk and I didn't care. I already had four children and I can't count very well, so it didn't make that much difference.”
The Star Wars actor shares sons Ben, 56, and William, 54, with ex-wife Maria Marquardtto whom he was married from 1964 to 1979. Ford and the late Melissa Mathisonwhom he was married to from 1983 to 2004, welcomed daughter Georgia, 33, and son Malcolm, 36. (Mathison, a screenwriter, died of neuroendocrine cancer in 2015. She was 65.) He officially adopted Liam in 2010 after he and Flockhart tied the knot.
Though he likes to joke, in a rare moment of vulnerability, Ford admitted last year that he didn't think he was the best dad in the world. “I can tell you this: If I had been less successful, I would probably be a better parent,” he said Esquire in a May 2023 profile. He further noted that “the more consistent gardener is the better parent,” as he's been “out of town, up my own ass, most of my life.”
However, Flockhart thinks he is a good father and a great partner. “We had to work,” she told the newspaper Time of their almost 14-year marriage. “We've had our ups, we've had downs like everyone else – mostly ups, which is good – and we just stick together. He's the person I want to call if something happens. That knee-jerk thing where I have to call Harrison.
While Ford continued to star in films throughout their 22-year romance, Flockhart chose to focus on motherhood. Since Brothers Sisters came to an end in 2011 after five seasons, the actress has largely stuck to supporting roles on shows like Web therapy And Great girl. She said she was “very content being at home” as a full-time mother and that staying home likely helped her marriage to Ford.
“I didn't have the same dreams at the time, so we weren't competing with each other,” she explained. “We're very independent of each other in some ways and probably incredibly dependent on each other in other ways.”
But now that her son is grown (he graduated from Amherst College last year), she's ready for her comeback. Flockhart shines as Lee Radziwill at showrunner Ryan Murphy's highly anticipated FX mini-series, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans. The eight-episode drama premieres on FX Wednesday, January 31 at 10pm ET.