The actor shared an emotional tribute on what would have been his dad’s 64th birthday.

Douglas Booth has revealed that his father “tragically” ended his own life this year. The BBC star turned to Instagram on what should have been his dad Simon’s birthday to share the devastating news. The My Salinger Year actor, 33, posted a touching collection of photographs featuring his late father, including one showing Douglas and his sister as youngsters, wrapped in Simon’s loving embrace.
Additional snaps captured him with his family during various outings, including a picture of Douglas’s actress wife Bel Powley standing beside Simon. Further images depicted Simon fetching the family Christmas tree, as well as unwinding in the garden with the family dog settled on his lap. The Greenwich-born star wrote: “Today would have been my dad’s 64th birthday.”
In a devastating revelation, he proceeded to disclose that Simon tragically passed away earlier this year.
Douglas wrote: “On the 4th May this year, my dad tragically took his own life. I’ve struggled to find the words for this loss. There are questions I’ll never have answers to, and I’m slowly learning to live with that. What I do know is that my dad was a gentle, kind, generous man, and he is deeply missed.
“In time, I want to find a way to turn this pain into something useful – to support and champion places that give men space to connect, talk, and feel understood. Too many men find themselves isolated, unable to express what they’re going through, or unsure of where to turn. Loneliness is a quiet epidemic. I’ve struggled with anxiety myself, and I know how frightening it can feel to be battling something internally while the world carries on around you.

“It isn’t as simple as ‘checking in’ on the people you love – sometimes they can’t hear you, even when you’re trying. And as people get older, lose the structure of work, or face changes in their identity or their bodies, the world can become even harder to navigate. My dad also struggled – with undiagnosed autism – and didn’t always have the tools to reinvent himself or ask for help.
“Losing someone to suicide is a complex grief, and my heart is with anyone who has walked this path. I’m incredibly grateful for my family, my friends, and at times complete strangers who have helped me begin to get through this.
“Happy Birthday Dad. I love and miss you. Always.”
Douglas’s poignant final photograph captured Simon perched on a countryside fence, gazing across sprawling fields as twilight descended upon the horizon.
News
I watched my ex-husband’s engagement party stop breathing the second I walked in pregnant with triplets beside a man far more powerful than him.
You keep staring at Fernando Castillo’s photograph on the laptop screen long after the old fan in the rented room begins to rattle like loose bones in the ceiling. There is something almost offensive about how composed he looks in…
I saw a homeless man wearing my missing son’s jacket — and I decided to follow him.
The last time I saw Daniel, the house was full of morning light. It streamed through the tall kitchen windows in pale winter bands, illuminating the floating dust in the air and turning the steam from my coffee into…
My neighbor turned my garden into her dumpster—so I brought her a GIFT she’ll never forget.
People see the wheelchair before they see me. They always do. It rolls into view first—quiet, metal, practical. A machine that announces limitation before a man even opens his mouth. And once they’ve noticed it, everything else becomes secondary. My…
SIX WORDS IN A U.S. HEARING JUST REOPENED ONE OF AMERICA’S DARKEST UNANSWERED QUESTIONS.
The six woгds thɑt fгoze the гoom: Keппedy coгпeгs Boпdi oveг Epsteiп’s deɑth — ɑпd heг ɑпsweг oпly deepeпs the mysteгy A heɑгiпg гoom goes still It wɑs just six woгds. But iп thɑt pɑcked coпgгessioпɑl heɑгiпg гoom, they lɑпded…
He looked me in the eye, ordered me to erase my brother’s disaster, and expected me to say yes
PART 1 – The Table Already Set By the time Kesha Williams turned onto her parents’ block on the South Side, the sky had the color of old pewter, and the wind coming off the lake had sharpened into something…
THEY FORGOT I HAD ALREADY COUNTED EVERY DOLLAR THEY EVER TOOK FROM ME.
PART 1 – Immersive Opening & Emotional Hook By the time Kesha Williams turned onto her parents’ block on the South Side, dusk had already begun to settle over Chicago in that blue-gray way that made every house seem to…
End of content
No more pages to load