David Harbour has opened up about personal growth and the lessons learned from past mistakes as he navigates challenges in his life marked by his divorce from Lily Allen and reports of an on-set complaint involving "Stranger Things" co-star Millie Bobby Brown.
Speaking with Esquire Spain in an interview published Saturday, the 50-year-old actor said he's learned to see both his successes and failures as part of a larger picture.
Asked whether there was anything he would change personally or professionally, Harbour said the question of regret was complicated.
"That's such a hard question — the question of regret, or something," he said. "I would change either everything or nothing."
Harbour explained that he has come to accept all aspects of his life, even the difficult ones, as essential to who he is.
"You either accept your path completely and realize that even the pain and the slipups and the mistakes are all part of the journey, and that there's truth and growth, wisdom and deeper empathy and connection in all that," he said.
"It's kind of like a house of cards, the minute you try to change one thing, you kind of have to change it all."
He also spoke about his work and how it draws from real life, with difficult experiences fueling his creativity.
"If you've never been through anything, what do you really have to offer?" he said.
"If I were to change anything, I'd change everything, and just make my life happy and silly and like, whatever, and then I wouldn't be an artist anymore. And that would suck."
Looking ahead, Harbour said he hopes to tell "more stories that are complex and rich" and to focus on his personal relationships.
"There's personal stuff that I want to do and people that I want to love and be good to and nurture, things like that," he added.
Harbour's comments follow recent statements by Allen, who told The Times that the actor had broken "agreed-upon boundaries" during their marriage.
The couple met in 2019 and married a year later, settling in New York with Allen's two daughters.
Allen's upcoming album, "West End Girl," reportedly draws from the end of their four-year relationship.
"There are usually agreed-upon boundaries in relationships," Allen said. "But whether those boundaries are adhered to or not is becoming a gray area all of a sudden."
"Dating apps make people disposable, and that leads to the idea that if you are not happy, there's so much more to choose from — right in your pocket."
Meanwhile, Harbour is facing separate scrutiny after a Daily Mail report claimed that Brown filed a complaint on the set of "Stranger Things." The filing was said to include "pages and pages" of allegations, none of which were sexual in nature.
The outcome of the internal inquiry remains unknown.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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