Six older fathers share the unexpected joys and pitfalls. T he first time Gary Jenkins became a father, in , his priorities changed in an instant. My time with my son feels much more limited and hence much more precious.
The principal difference is that the first time he was in his mids and living in Surrey with his first wife, and now he is 66 and living in the Czech Republic with his second wife β and three extra decades of life lessons to draw on. Speaking to me on a video call, Gary looks fit and active, relishing his second chance at fatherhood. He has just spent the morning making an electronics kit with his son, Ben, who is eight.
After a divorce, he says he lost contact with his daughter. I spun out. It was a pretty easy thing to do. She said yes. And that was that. Y ou may have noticed many older fathers in the public eye, such as Jeff Goldblum, 71, father to Charlie, nine, and River, seven. Rupert Murdoch was 72 when his youngest child, Chloe, 21, was born. Even Donald Trump, 78, is the father of a teenager, Barron, 18, whose insights were apparently crucial in winning the male Gen Z vote.
Actually, polygamy is common among western elites. The men just do it sequentially, fathering children by many different partners throughout their lives. Mick Jagger has eight children born between and to five women. Nor is advanced fatherhood a modern phenomenon. A few years ago, I met the late art historian John Richardson, then in his 90s. He proudly told me that his grandfather had been born in β a two-century leap that it took me a while to realise was the result of two successive septuagenarian fathers.
We can only guess at how adept Pacino is with the wet wipes. He is also in the happy position of being able to compare notes with his eldest daughter, 35, who has children of a similar age.
