The eldest son of late Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, Chris, has opened up about his dysfunctional relationship with his father; labelling him a “deadbeat dad” who was “never present.”
Chris Otcasek took to Instagram on September 15th, the anniversary of his father’s death, to publicly acknowledge his complicated feelings towards Ric. Sharing an Instagram photo of himself, brother Adam and Ric. “You don’t exist. We didn’t either,” he wrote.
The 56-year-old video game lead artist recently sat down with Page Six, for an interview that saw him delve into his relationship with his father in greater detail.
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Chris and Adam were Ocasek’s children from his first marriage to Constance Campbell. In 1971, Ric divorced Campbell whilst six months pregnant and married his second wife, Suzanne, who he went on to have two sons, Eron and Derek.
At 40, Ric Ocasek met the then 18-year-old supermodel Paulina Porizkova during a video shoot for The Cars 1984 classic, ‘Drive’. In 1988, he left Suzanne and married Porizkova, they had two sons Jonathan and Oliver.
Chris admitted that for most of his childhood, he failed to hear from his father.
“There may have been a touch of guilt, but I also think he wanted to say he was becoming famous and I think that gets into one of the more universal things in that he was just simply a narcissist,” Chris told Page Six.
“He didn’t have the sort of conscience to keep him grounded so he just kept going and always went for the next thing even if that meant abandoning or neglecting children. That was fine with him. I don’t think he thought much about it.”
He continued, “my father, in essence, died the day I was born. He was never present, he was never there. Even when he was, he was never there and that’s the abandonment that I’m referring to.”
Check out ‘Drive’ by The Cars:
