Barry Keoghan delights staff at a small horse riding stables in Dundee as he makes surprise visit

A constant battle with addiction left Debbie unable to care for her children and at aged five, Barry and his younger brother, Eric were sent into foster care where they moved between 13 different homes over a period of seven years.However, the string of tragedy continued for Barry who, aged just 12, received the earth shattering news that his mother had died. She was 31 years old.Barry, who was 12 at the time, described the moment as ‘worst day of his life’, but admitted the experience made him stronger as a result. Talking about the crushing moment to JOE, he said: ‘I remember it, it wasn’t nice. It’s not ever nice, kids being taken from their parents.’He moved to the area in 2023 with his partner at the time, Alyson Kierans, with whom he shares two-year-old son Brando. The apple of his mother’s eye, Barry used to visit Debbie in hospital every day after school, dancing like Elvis and doing impersonations to make her laugh. 

Barry was eight when Lorraine – who also lived with her mother, Barry’s grandmother Patricia, now 91 – adopted him while his mother was incapable of caring for him. His father, now dead, was never involved in his upbringing.’I think she was too embarrassed to tell my granny and so no one knew that’s when we went through all that. All the different homes.”That kind of haunts me still, you don’t forget those things,’ he said.In a recent interview, the Oscar-nominee opened up about the trauma of losing his mother at such a young age.   One incident in 2022 in which a gang attacked a Deliveroo cyclist, has left drivers refusing to take orders from the crime riddled area. While the pair split up at the beginning of last year, he still has close family in the Dundee area.After many years of battling addiction, Debbie fell victim to pneumonia, septicemia and hepatitis.The caption read: ‘Not every day your yard gets a visit from a Hollywood star.’ Published: 12:15 EST, 2 January 2025 | Updated: 13:25 EST, 2 January 2025 There in Summerhill, Lorraine, 59, took charge of raising the three children, taking a job as a cleaner in a pub to pay the bills and support the family.During his trip, the Saltburn actor happily posed for selfies and snaps with the team, with the pictures shared on the stable’s Facebook page.  While Barry spends plenty of time in Hollywood and London for work, he owns a house in the nearby town of Broughty Ferry. 

‘She was just unable to look after us.[…] My father wasn’t there and so we got taken into care and no one knew about this. Speaking on a recent episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast, Barry sweetly remembered his ‘lovely, gorgeous’ mother as he sadly recalled how her addiction ‘caught her’.He said: ‘My mum, she was lovely. She was gorgeous, almost like six-foot, dark hair, just beautiful. Like every lad was chasing her and this thing caught her, like many families. Later, Barry and his brother, Eric, were able to move in with their aunt, Lorraine Keoghan, and his cousin, whom Barry describes as ‘a sister’ to him.‘It’s sad to see the deterioration of people around the area and see people kind of struggle with it and the recovery they’re in now. It caught my mum, it caught my uncle who died of it and caught my father as well. By REBECCA LAWRENCE FOR MAILONLINE Barry Keoghan delighted staff at the Claverhouse Equestrian Centre in Dundee as he made a surprise visit to the stables.