Liam Neeson claimed in a particularly candid interview that he once walked the streets with a large, heavy piece of wood in hopes of running into a “black bastard” after a close friend of his was raped.
The actor apparently shared the previously undisclosed story with The Independent during a press junket for his new film, Cold Pursuit, admitting that he is now “ashamed” of his past “awful” behavior.
Neeson said his female friend told him about the rape after he returned from a trip overseas.
“She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,” Neeson said, according to The Independent. “But my immediate reaction was… did she know who it was? No. What color were they? She said it was a black person.
“I went up and down areas with a cosh [a thick heavy stick or bar used as a weapon], hoping I’d be approached by somebody. I’m ashamed to say that, and I did it for maybe a week – hoping some [Neeson air quoted with his fingers] ‘black bastard’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him.”
He said it took him about a week to process his friend’s account of her attack.
“It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that,” he said. “And I’ve never admitted that, and I’m saying it to a journalist. God forbid.
“It’s awful,” he added. “But I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, ‘What the f-ck are you doing’, you know? I understand that need for revenge, but it just leads to more revenge, to more killing and more killing.”
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