The 'tough life' of Gene Hackman's 3 children after Hollywood star missed out on their early years

Hollywood star Gene Hackman - who along with his second wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found dead in their $3.8million Santa Fe home on Wednesday morning - leaves behind three adult children. Whilst the two-time Oscar winner mostly tried to keep his family life private throughout his impressive career, he did often confess just how 'tough' his offspring's lives were after he missed out on their earlier years due to work.

The Superman star, 95, was married to first wife Faye Maltese, a bank clerk, from 1956 to 1986. They shared three children together - Christopher Allen, now 65, Elizabeth Jean, 62, and Leslie Anne Hackman, 59. Their first few years as a young family were marked by struggle - the couple lived in a 'cold water walk up' - meaning there was no hot water supply available - in New York City.

Thankfully, Gene soon found success on the stage and screen, but admitted that the jobs he took would 'separate [his family] for three or four months at a time'. He explained to the New York Times Magazine in 1989 how his search for the spotlight made him 'selfish'.

'You spend so many years wanting desperately to be recognized as having the talent and then when you're starting to be offered these parts, it's very tough to turn anything down,' he confessed. 'Even though I had a family, I took jobs that would separate us for three or four months at a time. The temptations in that, the money and recognition, it was too much for the poor boy in me. I wasn't able to handle that.'.

Gene Hackman and his family at Sun Valley in 1974. Whilst the two-time Oscar winner mostly tried to keep his family life private throughout his impressive career, he did often confess just how 'tough' his offspring's lives were after he missed out on their earlier years due to work.

Speaking to the Irish Independent in 2000, the Bonnie and Clyde star reflected: 'It's tough being the son or daughter of a celebrity. 'I couldn't always be home with them when they were growing up and then, living in California, they've had my success always hanging over their heads.'.

In 2011, Gene further discussed how his dreams of grandeur caused difficulties with his children, when asked what advice he'd want to pass onto his son by GQ. He answered: 'I lost touch with my son in terms of advice early on. Maybe it had to do with being gone so much, doing location films when he was at an age where he needed support and guidance.

'It was very tough for me to be gone for three months and then come home and start bossing him around.'. Gene, who announced his retirement from acting in 2004, was often honest about how he struggled to balance both his family and an illustrious career.

He told the Larry King Live show about his transition from an ordinary life to the spotlight, admitting: 'I didn't handle it very well, really. I took care of my family. You know, my family's never wanted for anything. 'But because I was so enamoured of the Hollywood of old, you know, the glamour of that, although I never involved myself in that, I was really - oh, how do you say, I was so taken with that, and the fact that I was part of that.

Actor Gene and daughter Leslie Hackman attend the premiere of 'Class Action' on March 13, 1991 at the Plitt Theatre in Century City, California. Gene and his daughter Elizabeth Hackman at the screening of Superman in December 1978. Gene and his children during the premiere of Superman in Washington, D.C in December 1978.

'And that I was - I could be anything and anyone I wanted to be. It was a long time before I settled down, before I got to the point where I could discern what was really right for me.'. However, the actor insisted in a February 1984 interview with journalist Leta Powell Drake that he and his son, who was in his 20s at that point, 'still hug to this day, and I thank God that we are able to do that'.

He also shared in a January 2020 interview with Empire magazine how his son 'thought he wanted to be an actor at one time'. Despite the actor wanting to keep his life relatively private, he did sometimes appear at film screenings with his children; Gene and his eldest daughter Elizabeth attended the December 1978 showing of Superman, in which he played villain Lex Luthor.

Some years later, in 1984, Gene's youngest daughter Leslie attended the 41st Annual Golden Globe Awards with the actor. Then in October 1996, Elizabeth and her father were photographed at the premiere of The Chamber in Beverly Hills, California, alongside her sister and her stepmother, Betsy Arakawa.

Leslie, meanwhile, also stepped out at the premiere of The Godfather Part III in December 1990 and the screening of Class Action in March 1991. However, prior to the height of his fame, Gene was turning to his children for help, with the actor once revealing how he 'I used to have to borrow my daughter's car to go to interviews in Hollywood'.