Rafe Spall feels "the passing of time" since becoming a dad again
The I Give It a Year star, 42, has three children with his ex-wife Elize du Toit and he became a dad for a fourth time in 2024 when he welcomed a new baby with his second wife Esther Smith - and Rafe admits being an older father has made him value his precious his time with his kids.
3 February 2026
He told the Telegraph newspaper: "I was 27 when I had my first child. I'll be 43 in March with a new baby; at the risk of sounding trite, starting again has given me a keen sense of the passing of time. No phase will last forever; nothing is permanent.
"When you're up in the small hours pacing the floor as you try to get the baby to sleep, it feels like forever, but those precious moments are where the love is.
"That's not to say it isn't bloody annoying too, but I would truly exchange anything I have for just one day with each of them as a baby."
Rafe previously admitted he was trying to be a "more present" father because his work as an actor has taken him away from his children for such long periods of time.
He told inews.co.uk: "I'd like to be more of a present father. I'd like to get to the point where I could do less acting and be around them more ...
"I try to do the right thing. But obviously, I'm not around as much as I'd like to be because my job takes me away a lot.
"But unfortunately, I don't have any other skills to exchange for cash. This is all I have and so I have to go off and do my acting in order to keep them in hummus."
He added: "It's taken me 20 years to get into the position where I am now. So you go, well, you could just quit, but it's like, well, then it would take me another 20 years to get good at something else.
"No, I don't want to quit. I like it, it's really good fun. But it's very involved."
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