Gerard Butler places the blame on Dad

Nov 28, 2009, 5:01 GMT

Gerard Butler blames his problems with women on his absent father. EPA/SOEREN STACHE

Gerard Butler blames his problems with women on his absent father.

The 'Gamer' actor was raised solely by his mother after his parents divorced when he was just two and he believes his commitment issues stem from the fact his dad wasn't around.

Butler - who didn't have contact with his father again until he was 16 - told German magazine Joy: "I act very awkward when I am with women. Perhaps that's because my mother brought me up alone. My father gambled away all our money and eventually went bankrupt. So one night our family had to flee head over heels to Canada. At that time my mother was five months pregnant with me. Shortly after my second birthday my father let us down. It is said that men who grow up without a father have a fear of commitment."

Despite his own disrupted childhood, the 40-year-old actor would love to have a family of his own but admits he needs to find the right woman first.

He added: "It's about time. But a woman by my side would be very helpful in this project."

Butler has most recently been romantically linked to his 'The Bounty Hunter' co-star Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Simpson, but he insists most of the rumours are not true.

He said: "It's totally bizarre. Since I am considered in Hollywood to be a true womaniser people impute affairs to me all the time. Last year I was linked to ten different women! Only one of them was true."