This is really heartbreaking stuff.

Famous acing legend Sir Anthony Hopkins gave a reeeeally harsh answer to an innocent question during an interview, one that has pretty much blown the lid on his ongoing estrangement from his only daughter, Abigail, according to a report by Mamamia.

Awkward.

Here’s what went down: during an interview with the Radio Times, Hopkins was asked if he had any grandchildren. Sounds like a legitimate question, but the answer has got us shook:

I don’t have any idea. People break up. Families split and, you know: ‘Get on with your life.’ People make choices. I don’t care one way or the other.

That’s just cold. But Hopkins doesn’t care:

Well, it is cold. Because life is cold. You don’t have to like your family. Children don’t like their fathers. You don’t have to love each other.

Jirre, Hopkins cuts so deep that Hannibal Lecter would be impressed.

It’s not like Hopkins deserves a trophy for World’s Greatest Dad or anything. PEOPLE explains that he walked out on his first wife Petronella Barker and their daughter Abigail when she was just a toddler. Since then, he’s barely kept up a relationship with her.

Per the report by MamaMia, Abigail, now aged 48, said during an interview back in 2005 that she barely saw her father during her childhood:

I would see him, but maybe once a year.

There is a little bit of sadness, but I have to get on with my life. It has always been like that. See him, and then not.

Shame.

When she was 18, Abigail started to experiment with drugs and booze due to dealing with depression. It nearly robbed her of her will to live:

I came very close to killing myself. It was the worst time I can remember. I totally abused my mind and body. The root cause was the fact that my father and I had an intermittent relationship when I was young. I was angry and there was a lot of grieving going on.

Damn, people, how can you not feel sorry for her?

There was a flicker of hope when Abigail and Hopkins briefly reconciled in the 1990s. Hell, The Silence of the Lambs star even arranged for his daughter to have short cameos in two of his films, Shadowlands and The Remains of the Day.

But alas, the reconnection was cut off and their relationship – well, whatever was left of it – pretty much fell apart. Hopkins has even gone on public record to state he’s estranged from his daughter:

I guess we are estranged. I don’t think [Abigail] wants to know very much [about me].

Abigail, who’s now a musician and actress, said she was open to a reconciliation if it was mutual.

Yeah well, judging from his latest comments, I don’t think her dad gives a toss anymore.

[sources:mamamia&people]