The actor talks about the controversy surrounding his comments about his kids and religion.
Chris Pratt is setting the record straight on a lot of things. The Jurassic World: Dominion actor covers the July/August issue of Men’s Health magazine and reacts to the internet’s hot takes on his social media posts.
The 43-year-old actor admits that his life is full of blessings, but he often wonders of his critics, “Why are they coming after me?”
“You don’t ever wanna get caught complaining or anything,” Pratt tells the publication. "'Cause I have so many blessings. I consider everything a blessing truly in my life.”
Pratt’s biggest blessings are his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, their daughters, 1-year-old Lyla and newborn Eloise, and his 9-year-old son, Jack, whom he shares with ex-wife Anna Farris.
The actor recently came under fire for a post dedicated to his wife where he thanked her for their “healthy” baby girl. Pratt says the backlash from the message brought him to tears.
“I said something like, ‘Find someone who looks at you the way my wife looks at me.’ And then I gave her some sh*t in the thing and said, ‘But I love you. I’m so thankful for my wife -- she gave me a beautiful, healthy daughter,’” he says about the post. "And then a bunch of articles came out and said, ‘That’s so cringeworthy. I can’t believe Chris Pratt would thank her for a healthy daughter when his first child was born premature. That’s such a dig at his ex-wife.’ And I’m like, That is f**ked up. My son’s gonna read that one day. He’s nine. And it’s etched in digital stone. It really f**king bothered me, dude. I cried about it. I was like, I hate that these blessings in my life are—to the people close to me—a real burden.”
Pratt also addresses the backlash that came after he accepted an MTV Movie & TV Award and thanked God. In the months, and years, that followed, the internet connected him to the controversial Hillsong Church and has made him “the face of religion," he claims. The Guardians of the Galaxy actor says that his connection to religion is much different than the way it’s perceived by the outside world.
“Maybe it was hubris. For me to stand up on the stage and say the things that I said, I’m not sure I touched anybody,” he shares about the acceptance speech.
“Religion has been oppressive as f**k for a long time. I didn’t know that I would kind of become the face of religion when really I’m not a religious person. I think there’s a distinction between being religious—adhering to the customs created by man, oftentimes appropriating the awe reserved for who I believe is a very real God—and using it to control people, to take money from people, to abuse children, to steal land, to justify hatred," Pratt explains. "Whatever it is. The evil that’s in the heart of every single man has glommed on to the back of religion and come along for the ride."
As for his rumored connection to Hillsong, Pratt adds, "I never went to Hillsong. I’ve never actually been to Hillsong. I don’t know anyone from that church."
Pratt may not have defended himself against the internet trolls personally, but in his latest role in Prime Video’s The Terminal List, where he plays a Navy Seal who is out for vengeance after his platoon is killed, he admits that he was inspired by the backlash.
“It was an opportunity for me to play a character who takes vengeance against the people who took his family, because—as a man and a dad—I feel out of control around being able to protect my family when it comes to the press or Twitter or whatever,” he says. “I never was actually aware of that. It’s really . . . maybe that’s—I think that might be an astute observation.”
The Terminal List starts streaming July 1 on Prime Video.
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