by Brendan Fraser’s sons stepped out at the 2023 Oscars in support of their father, who is nominated for his role in Best Actor The whale.
The 54-year-old actor arrived at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday March 12 with his sons Holden Fletcher Fraser, 18, and Leland Francis Fraser, 16. In addition to his two children – who he shares with ex-wife Afton Smith – they were accompanied by Fraser’s girlfriend Jeanne Moore.
Fraser and Smith are also parents to their 20-year-old son, Griffin Arthur Fraser, who lives on the autism spectrum.
Speaking to Laverne Cox on E! News red carpet, Fraser’s sons shared their praise for their father ahead of Sunday night’s ceremony. “We are incredibly proud. Over the moon,” Holden said.
Meanwhile, the two revealed themselves entertainment tonight that even though her father is now an Oscar nominee, he still finds time to crack a few dad jokes.
“At the end of a conversation we’re like, ‘Oh yeah, right.’ And he’ll say, ‘Left,'” Holden explained, while Leland said, “I think my personal favorite was always when we were kids, and I’d say I don’t like broccoli,” and he says, ‘Broccoli loves you.'”
Although Holden admitted his father was “pretty cool,” he said his “father jokes still don’t catch on.”
“I mean, he’s our old man and he’s always been cool. But we’ll always tease him at least a little bit,” Leland added.
Fans immediately took to social media after the rare red carpet moment on Sunday night, where they gushed over Holden and Leland’s support for Fraser.
“Seeing Brendan Fraser’s sons say how proud they are of their dad and seeing him get emotional about it is already my best #Oscar moment and the show hasn’t even started,” one fan tweeted .
“I’m soft,” said another of supporting the boys. “You got that, Brendan!”
“Very handsome young men!” a third wrote.
Brendan Fraser was married to actor Afton Smith from September 1998 to December 2007. Nowadays, his son Holden is a model and a student at New York University, while Leland is also a model. The boys made another rare red carpet appearance for a screening in New York City in November 2022 The whale.
Earlier this year, the mummy star spoke candidly about his eldest son Griffin’s diagnosis of autism and reflected on the joy and happiness it has brought him. During an appearance in February at the Howard Stern ShowThe Oscar nominee said he was “devastated” when he and his ex-wife first received Griffin’s diagnosis when he was “22 or 24 months.”
Fraser said hearing the diagnosis was like “being hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat”, adding: “It wasn’t supposed to end like that. You blame yourself and think, ‘My genealogy,’ or ‘I smoked weed in college,’ you start blaming yourself for the reasons.”
He admitted that his first reaction was to try and find a “solution” to autism, but later decided he “didn’t want it any other way.”
“This boy has the greatest joy on board of anyone I know and he happens to be related to me as my son,” he said. “I want to know what he finds so incredibly funny about all day, in a honest way, he’s killing himself. He loves to ride in the car. It doesn’t matter where you take him.”
