Irish actor Barry Keoghan lashed out at online trolls who he said have been intimidating his family.
The Oscar-nominated star found himself at the center of attention amid reports that he and singer Sabrina Carpenter had split, prompting Keoghan, 32, to deactivate his Instagram account. He broke his silence Saturday in a statement posted to X, and while he did not directly address the reports, he called out critics, saying he could "only sit and take so much."
"My name has been dragged across the internet in ways I usually don't respond to," he wrote, saying that he chose to speak out as there are "too many lines being crossed." In the statement, Keoghan said he deactivated his Instagram because he "can no longer let this stuff distract from my family and my work."
"Absolute lies, hatred, disgusting commentary about my appearance, character, how I am as a parent, and every other inhumane thing you can imagine," he said. "Dragging my character and everything I worked extremely hard for and stand for."
Keoghan spent his early years moving between foster homes and living with his grandmother, as his mother struggled with heroin addiction and died when he was 12, according to CNN. Three years later, his father died.
More recently, Keoghan has faced public scrutiny regarding his role as a father to his 2-year-old son, Brando, whom he co-parents with his ex-girlfriend Alyson Sandro.
"The messages I have received," said Keoghan. "Talking about how I was a heroin baby and how I grew up — and dragging my dear mother into it also."
Keoghan said people had been "knocking on my grannies door" and "sitting outside my baby boy's house intimidating them. That's crossing a line."
The "Saltburn" star previously spoke about the damaging impact of online trolling in an interview with "The Louis Theroux Podcast" released in November.
"People kind of have a judgment on me as a parent," he said at the time, according to CNN.
"I'm like, well until you've walked a day in my shoes growing up as a kid, then you can't comment … there's a lot online. If I didn't have tough skin or the strength I have, I wouldn't be sitting here," he continued.
"Of course it's going to affect me being a father when I had no blueprint to take from.
"The more in the public I've become, the less I've posted about my child, because I don't think it's fair to put my child online, there's sick people out there," he added.
"And because I've reined that in, people draw a narrative and go 'absent father, sh*t deadbeat dad' and more disgusting things that I wouldn't even repeat. Just the audacity of some people, man, it sickens me and makes me furious."