Ewan McGregor likens divorce to a 'bomb going off in everyone's life'

Ewan McGregor has made a rare public comment about the breakdown of his first marriage and the impact the split has had on his children.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi actor, 51, filed for divorce from his wife of 22 years, Eve Mavrakis, with whom he shares four children, in January 2018, after being pictured kissing his Fargo co-star, Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

He went on to marry then have a baby, a son, Laurie, with Winstead in June last year, but the period clearly hasn't been easy on the family with McGregor likening his divorce from his first wife to "a bomb going off".

Speaking in an interview with GQ the Moulin Rouge! star admitted he and his family are still trying to heal following the marriage breakdown.

“A divorce in a family is a bomb going off in everyone’s life – my children’s lives,” he says. “The sort of healing of that is ongoing.”

Read more: The simple sign revealing you’ve ‘clicked’ with someone

McGregor and Mavrakis share four children together - Clara, 26, Esther Rose, 20, Jamyan, also 20, and Anouk, 11.

When asked about the split, Mavrakis previously told The Sun on Sunday: "It's disappointing and upsetting but my main concern is our four children are OK."

Watch: Ewan McGregor opens up on working Hayden Christensen again in Obi-Wan Kenobi

Eldest daughter Clara, who initially seemed upset about her father's pairing with Winstead, has since seemingly repaired her relationship with her father, congratulating him on becoming a dad once again last year.

Read more: The recipe for a perfect marriage, according to happily wedded couples

Sharing an image of her herself cuddling newborn Laurie to Instagram she added a sweet message to her new sibling.

"Welcome to the world little brother. congratulations to my Dad & Mary - this is the greatest gift," she wrote in the accompanying caption.

McGregor is soon to appear in the film You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder film, which also stars Clara, who wrote the screenplay.

It is the story of a father taking his daughter to rehab and is something of a reflection of the pair's relationship, while also being loosely based on Clara’s recovery from an addiction to prescription drugs.

“She tells me she’d come up with an idea about writing about us," McGregor told GQ magazine.

“At first, I was a bit nervous – I didn’t know what that meant. I sat down to read it and I was blown away.

“It was a beautiful story about us. There’s things that aren’t accurate, or are bent – but they still reflect our estrangement for a while.”

Last year Clara McGregor was unveiled as the face of a new campaign, after becoming the global ambassador for lingerie brand, Bluebella.

“I chose to do the Bluebella campaign because the brand is run by women and their lingerie is made for women and not made for them to please their partners, and they are the most beautiful lingerie I’ve ever seen," she says of the partnership.

“All their pictures show women in a position of power, never submissive and so I knew if I was ever going to do a lingerie campaign it was going to be with them.”

Read more: Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt still friends: How to be mates with an ex

While he hasn't opened up much about the breakdown of his first marriage McGregor has previously shown appreciation for both his ex and his new partner.

At the 2018 Golden Globes, The Star Wars star McGregor thanked Winstead and Mavrakis when he won Best Lead Actor in a Mini series for his role on Fargo.

"There would have been no Ray without Mary Elizabeth Winstead, so thank you very much," he said before adding: "I want to take a moment to just say to Eve, who always stood by me for 22 years, and my four children, Clara, Esther, Jamyan and Anouk, I love you."

Ewan McGregor's comments suggest the family are still working through their pain following the marriage breakdown, but another former celebrity couple recently opened up about how they managed to successfully transition from partners to friends following their split.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt last week revealed they still love each other and are glad to be friends more than 20 years after they broke off their engagement.

The former couple, who became engaged in 1996 but later called off the marriage in 1997, were reflecting on their relationship in a recent interview, revealing they are still mates and have love for one another more than two decades on.

While Paltrow and Pitt don't share children together, co-parenting after a divorce can often be complicated.

Back in 2020, Channing Tatum and ex Jenna Dewan reportedly finalised their custody arrangement of daughter Everly following their split.

The former married couple share joint custody of Everly, but have had a parenting schedule put in place to make things easier due to their unpredictable work schedules.

While your average separated couple might not have to navigate the unusual working schedules of their celebrity counterparts, that doesn’t mean a parenting schedule or plan isn’t a good idea.

“As a lawyer, I always recommend parents consider a parenting schedule, or Parenting Plan as we tend to call them here in the UK,” says Cara Nuttall, Partner and specialist children lawyer at JMW Solicitors.

“With many parents working, trying to factor in commutes, school or nursery and extra-curricular clubs and activities, not to mention social engagements and seeing extended family, finding a workable and practical arrangement can be a nightmare, but it does not have to be.

“Sitting down and really thinking how everything will work can be difficult, emotional and challenging, but it can reduce a huge amount of stress and conflict further down the line.”

Turns out marriage breakdown might have more to do with your genes than anything else.

Recent research, published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, revealed more sensitive people respond better to relationship counselling, which may offer a fresh perspective on why broken marriages run in some families.