Daniel Stewart has paid tribute to his father, Star Trek icon Sir Patrick Stewart, following the actor’s death, despite the late star’s previous admission that he regretted being estranged from his two children.
Sir Patrick, renowned for playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, died on Wednesday aged 86 after living with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
Daniel, 59, shared a poignant photograph on his X account showing himself carrying his father on his back.
The image was taken during a 2001 production of Johnson Over Jordan at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Daniel offered no caption or explanation, allowing the emotional photograph to stand alone.
In the years before his death, Sir Patrick had spoken candidly about his complicated family life and his regret over his distance from Daniel and his younger daughter, Sophie, 54.
Sir Patrick Stewart’s son Daniel has shared a tribute to the Star Trek legend following his death, despite the actor’s past comments about their estrangement. The pair are pictured in Los Angeles in August 2015
Speaking to the Irish Independent in 2023, Stewart said the separation had caused him “significant grief.”
“Given that I’m separated from my children now – we don’t have relationships – they have become very important,” he said.
The actor acknowledged that he was both surprised and deeply remorseful over his “non-existent” relationship with Daniel and Sophie, whom he had with his former wife, Sheila Falconer.
“I never thought this would happen, but both my children are in their 50s – they’re not children anymore, they’re adults,” Stewart said. “And my relationship with them is practically non-existent.”
He accepted responsibility for the breakdown, saying: “I always put my acting work first, before my family.”
Stewart said he thought about the situation every day and remained troubled by memories of his children and the people they had become.
He added that he felt responsible because they had been shaped, at least in part, by his influence—or by his absence from their lives.
“I could’ve done better as a parent, when my kids were little,” he told the newspaper.
Three years ago, Sir Patrick Stewart discussed his complicated family life and his regret over being estranged from his adult children, Daniel, 59, and Sophie, 54
![Stewart pictured in 2023, when he said he 'could've done better as a parent, when [his] kids were little'](https://i.dailymail.com/1s/2026/10/30/13/112185333-16251195-Stewart_pictured_in_2023_when_he_said_he_could_ve_done_better_as-a-1_1793366145581.jpg)
Stewart pictured in 2023, when he acknowledged that he “could’ve done better as a parent” while his children were young
Stewart appeared alongside his actor son Daniel at an event in New York in 2010
Before their estrangement, Stewart posed with Daniel and Sophie and his second wife, Wendy Neuss, in New York in 1999
“I was just obsessed with my work, and everything else took second place. I’m trying to correct that now, whenever possible with my grandchildren. And my own children seem to have forgiven me,” he said.
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In his 2023 memoir, Making It So, Stewart also described his relationship with Daniel and Sophie as “a work in progress.”
“The hurt caused by my split with their mother has never fully gone away,” he wrote. “I do get on wonderfully with their children – my four remarkable grandchildren; the eldest in his early 20s and the other three in their teens.”
Daniel and his father also shared the screen. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Daniel played Batai, the character’s son, in the episode The Inner Light, which aired on June 1, 1992, during the show’s fifth season.
Sir Patrick married Sheila Falconer in 1966, and they divorced in 1990. He was then married to American television producer Wendy Neuss from 2000 to 2003 before marrying singer Sunny Ozell in 2013.
News of Stewart’s death was confirmed in a statement posted to his Instagram account on Thursday.
“We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia [a brain disorder that affects thinking, movement, behaviour, and mood],” the statement said.
“He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all,” it continued.
Stewart shared the screen with Daniel when his son played Batai in The Inner Light, an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that first aired on June 1, 1992
Stewart was married to American television producer Wendy Neuss for three years
“We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace,” the statement added.
Stewart became an international star as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which ran from 1987 to 1994. He later reprised the role in several films and in the series Star Trek: Picard, which aired from 2020 to 2023.
He was also widely praised for portraying Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film franchise between 2000 and 2017.
Although audiences around the world knew him for his film and television work, Stewart was also a distinguished stage performer with a deep connection to Shakespeare.
The Star Trek actor pictured in Los Angeles with his first wife, actress Sheila Falconer, and their two children in 1992
Stewart met his third wife, Sunny Ozell, in 2008 while she was working as a waitress at a Brooklyn restaurant
He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and made his Broadway debut five years later in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Stewart later won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Antony and Cleopatra in London’s West End.
His stage credits included roles ranging from Claudius to Macbeth, as well as a celebrated one-man version of A Christmas Carol. He also appeared in West End and Broadway productions of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot alongside his longtime friend Ian McKellen.
Stewart was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for services to drama.
