Richard E. Grant has revealed his alcoholic father tried to shoot him more than once during his childhood.

Speaking on Davina McCall’s Begin Again podcast, the 64-year-old actor revealed the harrowing truth of his upbringing in Swaziland – now known as Eswatini – where his father Henrik ‘pulled the trigger’ at the back of his head.

‘He tried to shoot me when I was 15 when I emptied all his Scotch supply down the sink,’ he recalled.

‘I was half way through [pouring] the eleventh bottle, gun at the back of my head, I ducked, went off, ran to the garden – he finally found me, said “I’m going to blow your brains out”.’

The Saltburn star recalled pleading with his father to ‘do it, just get this over and done with’.

‘He pulled the trigger but because he was drunk it wavered, so it went straight past,’ he said.

Richard E. Grant revealed his alcoholic father tried to shoot him in multiple murder attempts as he opened up about his harrowing childhood in a chat with Davina McCall (pictured 2023)

In another painful recollection, Richard revealed that he once walked in on his mother and his father’s best friend in an ‘intimate situation’ (Richard’s parents Leonne and Henrik pictured)

And it seems this ordeal was just one of many dark incidents in his troubled upbringing.

In another painful recollection, Richard revealed to Davina, 57, that he once walked in on his mother Leonne and his father’s best friend in an ‘intimate situation’.

‘I knew that I was seeing something that I shouldn’t – I didn’t really understand what they were doing,’ he admitted.

But the torment didn’t stop there.

The Oscar-nominated actor has previously recalled another terrifying moment where his father took a sH๏τ at him after he crept out of the house at the age of 15 to see A Clockwork Orange at the cinema, despite the film having an 18 rating.

The movie, which was based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess, featured disturbing images, violent scenes and scenes of a Sєxual nature.

He told the Radio Times: ‘It had a triple-X rating, and you couldn’t see it until you were 18 years old.

‘So I snuck in by telling the woman who was at the box office that she looked just like Elizabeth Taylor.’

Despite the difficulties of living with his alcoholic father in an ‘isolated environment’ he maintains he still preferred it to being with his mother (pictured in childhood) 

He said that when he returned home, his drunken father was furious he’d snuck out to see the film, and he took a gun to his son’s temple before pulling the trigger. Luckily he missed.

But despite the difficulties of living with his alcoholic father in an ‘isolated environment’ with ‘limited access to entertainment or information’ he maintains he still preferred it to being with his mother.

And the trauma of his upbringing was seemingly only compounded by the grief he would later face as an adult.

When Richard’s father pᴀssed away from lung cancer at just 52, decades later, he would again face the heartbreaking loss of the love of his life to the same disease.

Dialect coach Joan Washington tragically pᴀssed away aged 74, in September 2021 just eight months after she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.

The couple met in 1986 and married later that year. They shared a daughter Olivia, 34.

Richard has been vocal in his grief since losing the love of his life and has admitted that he has lost friends as he battled heartbreak.

The pair had been together for 38 years at the time of her death.

Richard’s wife Joan Washington tragically pᴀssed away aged 74, in September 2021 just eight months after she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer (pictured in 2018) 

Read More Richard E. Grant claims ‘well-known household names’ treated his daughter ‘appallingly’ at work

It comes as the actor revealed last year that before his wife tragically pᴀssed away, the King visited her and the two sat in the garden and discussed life.

Richard relayed the heartbreaking story alongside a video of himself walking through London to Clarence House for the King’s Christmas party.

He captioned the post: ‘Shortly before my wife died, Prince Charles came to visit her, sat in our garden, held her hands and talked about Life as she contemplated her own death.

‘Kindness, generosity, humour and compᴀssion. Princely attributes fit for a King.’

He went on to reveal that he and his late wife had first met the King and his wife Queen Camilla when they got married almost 20 years ago.

He said: ‘My wife and I went to Prince Charles’s wedding 19 years ago in 2005. I’ve known them for a long time.’

He has since spoken about how he ‘can’t imagine falling in love again’ after the death of Joan.

In an interview last year, Richard said he still writes to his late wife of 35 years every day as the thought of her not being here is too much to bear.

The actor added that while he has tried dating, ‘nobody else has even come near’ to Joan.

He is now preparing for his next big-screen role in Death of a Unicorn, a darkly comic film starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, set for release in April.

If you need help with a drinking problem call Alcoholics Anonymous free on 0800 917 7650 or email [email protected]