Hilary Swank Reflects on Taking 3 Years Off to Be with Her Father: ‘It Was One of the Most Important Times of My Life’

Hilary Swank has no regrets about taking a career break to care for her ailing father.

The 49-year-old actress spoke about her latest project, Ordinary angelson Today show on Monday, and after admitting that the movie would have been her late father’s “favorite movie,” she expanded on the time she took to care for him years ago.

“It was one of the most important periods of my life, I think,” she said of her 2014-2017 hiatus from acting, which she took to help her father undergo and recover from a lung transplant.

Swank said she was “blessed” to be able to take time off and that it “deepened” her relationship with her father Stephen, who died in 2021.

“We had a lot of fun too,” she continued. “There were a lot of trials and tribulations there, but it was amazing and nothing I’ll ever regret.”

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Swank — who plays a struggling hairdresser who helps a widower find a liver transplant for his young daughter in the Ordinary angels — she said that the theme of the film resonated with her considering her own experiences with her father.

“My father was a lung transplant recipient so organ donation is a big, big deal for me and talking about it,” she said. “This film was made about three months after my dad passed away, so I got the opportunity, I feel like it was sent by my dad, to tell a film about an extraordinary human being and a family…. I think that would be my dad’s favorite movie.”

Hilary Swank in the movie ‘Ordinary Angels’.

Lionsgate /Courtesy of the Everett Collection

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The Fatally star spoke about her career break in 2020, as she said Health magazine that it was sometimes “overwhelming” to be her father’s primary caregiver.

“It should have been a year, because it takes a year to see if an organ transplant will last. A lung transplant is the most difficult of all, because it’s an incredibly delicate organ,” she said. “The plan was to take a year. I became my dad’s health advocate. One year quickly turned into two, then three.”

A few months after that interview, Swank revealed on Instagram that her father had died.

Hilary Swank and her father Stephen Swank attend the premiere of ‘The Affair of the Necklace’ in 2001.

Ron Galella, Ltd./Collection of Ron Galella via Getty

In a post on New Year’s Day, she shared that she had experienced a “tremendous personal loss” as her father “passed on to the other side” in October.

“I had a pretty unique relationship with him as I was his sole carer after his lung transplant seven years ago. I grew incredibly close to him during that time, deepening our relationship and enjoying every moment we spent together,” she wrote in the caption. . “He will always be one of my favorite people and not a day goes by that I don’t miss him.”

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In October, Swank marked the two-year anniversary of her father’s death by sharing a sweet selfie with him on Instagram, writing: “It’s been two years since you passed away. You brought so much joy to all who were blessed to know you. Your memory is still working. 🥰.”

“I love you forever. 💞🤍🙌🏽”, she added.

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Source: HIS Education