When we think of Clint Eastwood we think of cowboys, gunslingers, and cops. We think of Dirty Harry, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. But, Eastwood’s youngest son Scott wants to let everyone know that his dad is much more than the characters he plays in his films.
“When people think about him,” said Scott, “they see this bigger-than-life character. But he’s so much more complex than what you see and the movies he’s in. There’s a lot of nuance.”
Scott goes on to say that, as with all humans, Clint Eastwood is multi-faceted. There’s much more to him than just a cowboy or a cop. He’s not even just an actor, but a father, a director, an artist. Scott says that people don’t know about his personal life, so they can’t really get a sense of who he truly is.
“He’s very middle of the road [on issues],” Scott says. “He looks at things like […] maybe there’s a middle ground.”
Clint Eastwood is that sort of American icon that brings us together. People come together over his movies all the time, finding connections with each other through his films. He’s had a storied career, spanning nearly 60 years. But, we’ll never truly know Clint Eastwood as he knows himself, and as his children know him. All we can do it respect the legacy and enjoy his films, past and present.
Scott Once Discussed Clint Eastwood’s Tough-Love Parenting Style
While they’ve become incredibly close over the past decade, there was a time in Scott’s life when he needed his father’s “old-school” parenting.
For most of his life, Scott lived with his mother in Hawaii, but when he was a teenager, he left to live with Clint Eastwood. “It’s an interesting time. My father’s definitely old-school,” Scott told Esquire in 2016. “And he raised me with integrity—to be places on time, show up, and work hard.”
Scott joked, “I lived with my mom in Hawaii until I pissed her off. And then I came to live with my dad and pissed him off.” But Clint Eastwood praised his son, and attributed the values he possessed to his mother’s caring and generous upbringing.
“He was a pretty good kid. Not much of a problem,” Clint Eastwood said in the same Esquire interview. “His mother gave him a lot of values, because she’s a good person.”
Scott claimed that his mother, Jacelyn Reeves, could sometimes be “more understanding” than his father. But, his father provided a strong male influence and the tough love that he needed as a high schooler. Scott was sometimes scared of breaking his father’s rules, but his time living with Clint Eastwood shaped him into a multi-faceted, nuanced person just like his father.