Liam Neeson is talking about sex. Unfortunately for all of us, he’s not talking about positions or fetishes or how he would like to bone each and every one of us. No, Liam is talking about the difficulty of raising two teenage boys in a hyper-sexualized culture. Liam wants to teach his boys that sex is “very, very special… It’s full of mystery and wonder.” Which is super-sweet, and even though I know people are going to throw shade at Liam for talking like a prude after publicly admitting that yes, he’s got an Evian-bottle dong. But I wish more dads would talk about the example they want to set for their sons – we talk too much about the examples and role models for young women, and we act like nothing can be done about the way guys think about women and sex and respect.

A single parent since the death of his beloved wife, Natasha Richardson, three years ago, Liam Neeson says he has struggled to cope with the sexualised nature of society.

“I’d hate to be a kid now, because we’re all inundated with so much information about sexuality coming at us from everywhere – the media, the advertising billboards, just everywhere – and it must be so confusing for them,” says the actor, who has two sons, Micheál, 17, and Daniel, 16, by Richardson.

The Oscar-nominated star of such films as Schindler’s List and Love Actually says the sexualisation of society is ruining loving relationships. “There’s a problem that, if you become over-familiar with something, it moves from the sacred to almost the profane,” he tells The Catholic Herald.

“The act is very, very special, you know. It’s full of mystery and wonder, and I’d hate us all to get to the stage where we just treat it lightly, because it deserves more than that … but times have changed since I was young, no doubt about it.”

Richardson, the daughter of the actress Vanessa Redgrave and the director Tony Richardson, was 45 when she died after suffering a head injury in a fall while skiing in Canada.

The actress, who starred in films including Patty Hearst and The Parent Trap, had been married to Neeson for 15 years. Her first husband was Robert Fox, the film and theatre producer.

A year and a half after her death, Neeson, 60, began stepping out with Freya St Johnston, a public relations executive, but the relationship was reported last October to have “fizzled out” because he wanted to spend more time in New York with his sons.

[From The Telegraph]

That’s an interesting piece of gossip at the end! I didn’t know that we had established that Liam and Freya St. Johnston were over! The last I heard, Liam and Freya were still dating… when he was in London. And when he’s in NYC (with his sons), he has a “New York girlfriend” – or at least that’s what Page Six claimed back in September of last year. I’m not begrudging Liam! If he wants to date and have a few girlfriends, so be it. But I hope the girlfriends know about each other, and I hope that Liam is showing his sons how to respect women as he leads by example.

Photos of Liam in Rome, courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

We got a tip about this last week, but it wasn’t until I was going through this week’s tabloids that I actually took the time to look for the video. So, last week, Liam Neeson and Ethan Hawke happened to appear on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live. This was incidentally the same show where Ethan Hawke confessed that William Hurt is a “son of a bitch.” Anyway, when Liam’s “Plead the Fifth” three questions came up, Andy Cohen asked him to confirm or deny the rumors that he’s one of the most well-endowed men in Hollywood. His answer was… uh… “I’m told that Willem Dafoe and myself are [makes side-by-side motion]…neck-and-neck.” Here’s the video:

Liam also said that he might have dated Barbra Streisand, although all he wants to say is that they were “buddies”. How the hell did that happen?!? WHEN did that happen? I mean, I’ve heard that Liam got around before he fell in love with Natasha Richardson, but I’d never heard the Babs thing before. Did you know that he supposedly fooled around with Julia Roberts too? That was supposed to have happened when she was only, like, 19 years old.

Anyway, it’s no surprise that Liam is well-endowed. Supposedly, he hooked up with Janice Dickinson, and Janice once said “He unzipped his pants and an Evian bottle fell out. It was insane! Wouldn’t you just go gaga? He was amazing!” As for Willem Dafoe, I had never heard that about him, but apparently that’s a thing too – when Lars Von Trier was talking about Dafoe’s nudity in one of his films, Von Trier admitted that Dafoe’s dong was so big, it was “confusing”.

Sigh… I love talking about dongs.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

First of all, this photo ^^ is maybe one of the best things ever, right? Liam Neeson and Ice-T’s wife Coco, hanging out at a Jets/Dolphins game in Miami over the weekend. Coco tweeted the photo. I actually wonder if Liam knew exactly who Coco was. Perhaps he was surprised to find himself, like me and many others, chancing upon an E! marathon of Ice Loves Coco and thinking, “Wow, they actually have a really strong marriage, and they’re incredibly sweet together.” I would like to imagine that Liam asked about Spartacus the bulldog.

Second thing – Liam Neeson appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show… yesterday? Or maybe it’s happening today. Liam was challenged to do a silly stunt to raise money for breast cancer research, and he was game. Really, really game. He wore a pink robe, which he took off to reveal a hot pink speedo (which he then threatened to take off!) – and then he got in some kind of water tank and he got wet for charity. Amazing. Here’s the video:

Oh, and Liam is going to be on Inside the Actor’s Studio tonight! I can’t believe he’s never appeared on the show before. James Lipton is going to be extra-sycophantic for Liam.

Basically, it feels like Liam is doing an “I’m awesome” tour, right? Which will make many of us forget about the reports that he keeps girlfriends in every city.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

This ^^ is a photo of Liam Neeson with Freya St. Johnston back in March of this year. Liam and Freya have been dating for about two years exactly – they first went public back in September of 2010. By most accounts, Freya was his first and only significant relationship since Natasha Richardson passed away, and although Freya is more than 20 years younger than Liam, I think most people wished them well, even when there were tabloid rumors that Liam had proposed to her as well. Well, things are now in disarray. In a bizarrely specific and detail-filled report in Sunday’s Page Six, there are claims that Liam was secretly (?) dating another woman, an American, for the past six months or so, all while keeping Freya as his “London girlfriend” or something:

Liam Neeson had a months-long fling with a beautiful and much younger New York p.r. executive — who even met his family — but now he struggles to even remember her name. The hunky “Schindler’s List” star, 60, met stunning 28-year-old LFB Media Group executive Katy Schell at a premiere for his March movie, “Wrath of the Titans,” spies say.

“He’d seen her on the red carpet and thought she was beautiful,” says a source, “and he asked to meet her.” The two began a casual romance that became one of New York’s worst-kept secrets.

But later that month, Neeson was seen stepping out with his London-based girlfriend, Freya St. Johnston, in tony Mayfair — and then at Club 55 while on vacation in St. Tropez.

When Neeson was in New York, he spent a lot of time with Schell. “She met his family,” a source says. “She would stay at his apartment and met V anessa Redgrave [the mother of Neeson’s late wife, Natasha Richardson] when she came over.” The source added that Neeson had introduced Schell to his son on two occasions.

But when we contacted a Neeson rep about the relationship over the summer, we were told Neeson had “never heard of Schell.”

The pair recently broke it off because, as Neeson explained to Schell, he was “back with an old friend from London,’ who was staying with him all summer at his house in Millbrook,” a source told Page Six. “The funny part is that he invited Katy [to his country home] numerous times over the summer, but she never made the trip.”

Of the split, a source close to Schell said: “Liam was really sweet and respectful about the breakup. Overall, Katy has nothing but nice things to say about him.” But a source close to the actor tells us: “They never dated. Maybe they hung out once or twice, but that’s it.”

Handsome Neeson has been reinvented in Hollywood as an action hero in films including the 2008 hit “Taken,” its upcoming sequel, “Taken2,” and “The Grey”. Both Schell and a rep for Neeson could not be reached for comment.

[From Page Six]

I think most people want to give Liam the benefit of the doubt, and sure, there could be a perfectly reasonable and not-at-all-sketchy explanation for all of this. So, what does that explanation look like? He and Freya cooled off earlier this year, but still kept in touch, and maybe saw each other when they were in the same city, all while Liam casually dated another woman in New York, this Katy Schell? And who is giving Page Six this information? It sounds like it’s coming from Katy Schell’s camp, right? Which makes me wonder if Katy Schell thought she and Liam were exclusive. Which makes me wonder if Freya thought she and Liam were exclusive too. I guess Liam might have a dash of Clooney in him after all!

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Is it just me, or does Liam Neeson look absolutely amazing in these photos from the Deauville Film Festival? Liam was at Deauville to promote Taken 2 (the sequel to his surprise hit film, Taken, obviously) and to receive a special tribute for his career. But let’s just talk about how Liam looks for a second – first off, don’t yell at me! Y’all know I love Liam to pieces. But I do have to ask: did Liam get tweaked? A few people theorized last year (I think?) that Liam had gotten some work done, but I chose not to believe it. But now I’m wondering. His eyes…his skin… the general health and vigor to his appearance… he looks incredibly young for a 60 year old man. I’m even thinking… maybe some fillers? Or is that just weight gain? His face looks very “full”. Whatever, y’all. I’d still hit it.

Back to Deauville and why Liam was there… THR had an excellent piece with Liam, and he explained his late-in-life transformation into an action star. He also talked about the “sexiness” of having more women work on film crews:

Liam Neeson on Friday told a press conference at the 38th Annual Deauville American Film Festival why he enjoys working with French crews and why he has as of late been drawn to action movies. The 60-year-old is the subject of a special tribute at the festival this year. His fellow honorees include Harvey Keitel, Paula Wagner, William Friedkin, Salma Hayek, Melvin van Peebles and John Williams.

Neeson has received his greatest acclaim in films like 1993’s Schindler’s List, which earned him Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations and on stage in Tony-nominated roles in Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, or Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives.

So his late-career turn to popcorn fare and action—in such films as Clash of the Titans, Battleship, The A-Team, Taken and now Taken 2 – has caused some head-scratching. Neeson explained at Friday’s press conference for Taken 2, the sequel to the surprise 2010 hit Taken, that the genre answers a special call.

“[Action] appeals to the little boy inside of me,” he said. “There’s a wonderful release that comes with that physicality. The lovely thing about doing Taken 2 is there’s quite a lot of action, but then there were wonderful days that were just acting with [co-stars] Maggie Grace or Famke Janssen. They were almost luxurious because you had no physical stuff to do and could just act.”

Laughing when saying that “60 is the new 40,” Neeson said: “I keep pretty fit as a rule, but for these two films, you have to increase the push-ups and sit-ups, let’s put it that way.”

Neeson has said previously that he took the part of retired CIA agent Bryan Mills in Taken, even though he assumed the film would go straight to video, because he wanted to film in France. Though the sequel takes place in Istanbul, it was helmed by French director Olivier Megaton (Colombiana, Transporter 3), whose crew was a special delight to the actor.

“There is an energy and dynamism with a French crew that’s very sexy and attractive,” Neeson said. “British and American crews are generally 80 percent male, but it seems like 40 to 45 percent of French crews are female, and that’s terrific.”

Such girl power sympathies don’t necessarily extend to his taste in genres though. “I’m not interested in a rom-com,” he chuckled. “But I’m open. It always gets back to good writing and good directors.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

It’s nice that Liam is so accepting of more women doing behind-the-scenes work in films. I hope his feminism extends to working with more female directors, producers and writers too. As for his “60 is the new 40” statement… could his youthful transformation simply be the waning grief process and the benefits of his younger girlfriend? Last I heard, Liam is still dating 30-something Freya St. Johnston, although I haven’t heard much about them in months and months. Hm.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Last night was the LA premiere of Battleship, and these are some of the dong-tastic photos, for your viewing pleasure. Should we do this old-school Hot Guy Friday? Or should we do it “Who would you rather?”-style? I’m undecided. You just pick your fantasy dude and let your mind wander. Considering I think most of you enjoy the SWEDISH THUNDER and VIKING DONG of Alexander Skarsgard, let’s start with him. I really, really love that Alexander takes the time to get a nice suit and have it tailored for his crazy tall, long, Viking body. That suit is fantastic on him. The tie? Not so much. That tie is totally a retro knit, and while that might be “in style” right now, it also seems “off” with the suit. Still, who would really kick him out of bed? VIKING THUNDER.

As for the other dudes of Battleship… the only ones I’m really interested in post-Skarsgard are Taylor Kitsch and Liam Neeson. Liam is an “always and forever” dude for me, and I think for most women. I don’t know why he keeps signing on to do these dumb movies, but I always enjoy seeing him on a red carpet. As for Kitsch… well, some of you enjoy him. After a brief flirtation with photos of him, I’m now kind of over it. He’s not my type. Alex and Liam are my type.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

About 18 months after Nathasha Richardson passed away, Liam Neeson began dating a 30-something English blonde named Freya St. Johnston. That was circa September 2010, and last year, The Enquirer claimed Freya and Liam had gotten engaged, although Liam and Freya never confirmed or denied it. Anyway, these are some new photos of Liam and Freya leaving a restaurant in London over the weekend. I can see a faint resemblance to Natasha. It’s not a Rebecca or Vertigo-level creepy resemblance, but there’s something there. Also, Freya has a touch of Chloe Sevigny, right? Anyway, they look okay together. I’m glad Liam hasn’t drowned himself in an endless stream of young girls. He found a nice lady, and they seem to be settled and content with each other. It’s nice.

There are about a million smaller Liam stories this week, probably because he’s promoting Wrath of the Titans (#2 at the box office this past weekend) and Battleship (it’s out next week) and he’s talking to various media outlets about random things. Here are some highlights:

*He has a cameo in The Dark Knight Rises. I don’t know what to make of that. Neither does Liam, who said, “I don’t know anything about it, mate. Seriously. I honestly, genuinely don’t know anything about it.”

*He hates the internet, and his sons are always trying to teach him how everything works. Liam admitted, “I can send an email, slowly… But I don’t get any of the rest if it. Even the Internet is scary to me. The other day my son said, ‘Go on, type ‘free p-rn’ in there and I did and I was like, ‘What the f***is that!’ It was terrifying.”

*He’s signed on to a new movie written by Paul Haggis, which will shoot in the fall. His love interest? OLIVIA WILDE. Ugh. Liam said, “I’m doing a movie in September for four weeks with Olivia Wilde. We have some serious love-making to do so I have some push-ups to do… It’s a really interesting part and I get to go to bed with Olivia Wilde! It’s a small film. It’s a really interesting script… It’s a love story between different couples. I play a writer – or at least, I think so at the minute. It’s about a writer trying to get over a tragic death that he emotionally tries to access through the characters he writes about. He imagines their reactions to this tragic death of a kid drowning in a swimming pool.”

*Liam and Ralph Fiennes did an interview together about how they have, in Ralph’s words, a “a romance, a Godly bromance.” Ralph was talking about Wrath of the Titans, of course, but I think it suits their real-life bromance too.

So… Liam sounds good. It’s been more than a year since his heart-wrenching interview with Esquire, in which he discussed Natasha’s death at length. At that point, he seemed to still be in a psychological state of deep grief, and I’m hoping that he’s feeling a bit lighter these days. It’s not that I think he’s “forgotten” Natasha or that I think he should or could forget her. I’m just saying that three years have passed, and he’s got two healthy sons and a thriving career, and I won’t begrudge this lovely man some lightness and happiness.

Photos courtesy of WENN and Fame/Flynet.

Wrath of The Titans is out in 3D this weekend and I barely remember hearing about it. It looks like every other epic action movie, except it uses Greek mythology for the plot. It’s a sequel to the 2010 Clash of The Titans remake, which did incredibly well at the box office with a domestic and foreign take of $493 million. So this one will probably do well too, even though I’m lumping it in my head with the recent flop John Carter and 2011′s Conan The Barbarian. I just don’t “get” or see these type of movies, unless they’re very well reviewed or they star someone I adore. In this case I like Sam Worthington, but I won’t go see a movie just for him, you know? It’s the same for Liam Neeson, who seems to be in everything lately. (Primarily just that Battleship movie, which looks so ridic.) Ralph Fiennes is also in this, but he didn’t go to the premiere that I can see. Boo!

Anyway here are the two stars last night, looking decent. I’m not really hot for either one of them, but I wouldn’t say no, either. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a preference.

I love how Sam Worthington brings his girlfriends with him to his premieres. Here he is with his latest girlfriend, Crystal Humphries, whom he brought with him to the premiere of Man on a Ledge in January. He was with his last girlfriend, Natalie Marks, for a couple of years and he used to bring her to premieres all the time too. Kaiser reminds me that Sam is short-ish at 5’9″ and that Crystal must be tiny. They make a cute couple and Sam seems like a loyal boyfriend. That endears him to me.

What’s up with Crystal’s hair? It looks goofy with the blue and purple dip dye. I hate how that’s a trend.

Liam Neeson just looks a little tired. I would say he looks pulled, but he doesn’t, he just looks too smooth somehow. Maybe he got a peel or something. Still a lovely man, but I’m not loving his dyed hair, it looks really unnatural. Look at him leaning to the side like “I got this.”

So would you get with Sam, 35, or Liam, 59, if you had to choose? I love Australian guys, but I’m actually going with Liam, because he seems like he’d be much more attentive and interesting than Sam. You know you would have some thought-provoking conversations with Liam, and that he’d be nuanced and intelligent. After a few dates I’d convince him to change his hair and shave. Sam is like the messy drunken hookup you regret in the morning, but still brag to your friends about. I know he’s younger and technically more attractive, but I like taller guys and there’s something about Liam. Plus I’ve heard he’s very well endowed. *sigh* Still, he’s not looking his best lately.

Am I wrong about these movies, are they decent? I’m not the target audience, I know, and thankfully my kid is not old enough to see this. When he is, he can go to these type of movies with his friends. Here’s the trailer.

Photo credit: WENN and Fame

PETA might have gone too far. Yes, they frequently go too far with their stunt-queen theatrics, but now they’re picking on one of our most beloved (Muslim) actors, Liam Neeson. While promoting his latest film, The Grey, overseas, Liam mentioned that he had tried wolf meat. This caused PETA to basically issue a fatwa against Liam and The Grey – which if you don’t know by now, is a film about Liam doing hand-to-hand combat with some wolves or something.

Liam Neeson’s latest movie is facing a boycott after the actor admitted eating wolf stew to prepare for the role. The Irish actor has the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals up in arms over his method acting for The Grey in which he plays the leader of a group being hunted by wolves after their plane crashes in the Arctic.

“It was very gamey,” he said while promoting the hit movie. “But I’m Irish, so I’m used to odd stews. I can take it. Just throw a lot of carrots and onions in there and I’ll call it dinner.”

Neeson, 59, further infuriated PETA by saying that while others got sick he “went up for seconds.”

In a statement, the animal rights group said: “Neeson’s stance on kindness to animals is sorely out of step with the rest of the world.”

They then urged movie-goers: “Don’t just shy away. Run away from The Grey.”

While most of the wolf scenes were shot using special effects, PETA claims the film’s director, Joe Carnahan, ordered wolf carcasses from a trapper for some of the footage.

“Many animals caught in traps chew off their own limbs in order to escape,” said Jane Dollinger, a spokeswoman for PETA. “These animals go on to die of gangrene or other secondary infections, sometimes leaving nursing puppies abandoned to fend for themselves.”

Despite the outrage The Grey has been a box office hit. The film’s producers declined to comment on the protests.

[From Radar]

Wait, so is PETA mad that some real wolf carcasses were used in the film, or were they mad about Liam eating wolf meat? Or both? I kind of think PETA should have just focused on the wolf carcass issue, because that’s a seemingly more valid argument. If you tell me about wolves having to chew off their own legs, I’ll get upset. If you tell me Liam Neeson ate two helpings of wolf stew, I’ll shrug.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Liam Neeson has the voice, bearing, conscience and heart of a holy man, in my opinion. I could easily see him, in another world, being a parish priest, a bishop, or God knows, even the most rough-and-tumble pope ever. Liam was raised as a strict Roman-Catholic, but it’s believed that his faith in the Catholic church has dwindled over the years, and perhaps even faltered completely following the death of his much beloved wife Natasha Richardson. GAH – I just completely lost focus when I went back and re-read Liam’s interview with Esquire last year, when he talked at length about Natasha. Anyway, Liam was recently filming in Istanbul, Turkey, and while he was enjoying the location, he found himself incredibly moved by the daily calls to prayer. And now he’s thinking of converting?

He may have been named after the local priest in his Irish hometown but Liam Neeson could be leaving his Roman Catholic beliefs behind. The 59-year-old actor is said to be considering converting to Islam following a working trip to Istanbul.

According to The Sun, Neeson admitted that Islamic prayer ‘got into his spirit’ while he was filming in Turkey.

‘The call to prayer happens five times a day, and for the first week, it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit, and it’s the most beautiful, beautiful thing,’ he said.

‘There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning, and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim.’

Neeson was raised in Northern Ireland as a devout Roman Catholic due to his parents beliefs.

However, the Taken star has recently spoken about his opinion towards religion.

‘I was reared a Catholic, but I think every day we ask ourselves, not consciously, what are we doing on this planet? What’s it all about?’ he said. ‘I’m constantly reading books on God or the absence of God and atheism.’

The actor was criticised in 2010 after claiming The Chronicles Of Narnia lion, Aslan, who he provided the voice for in the film, was not based on Christ as CS Lewis had claimed but in fact all spiritual leaders including Mohammed.

[From The Mail]

I think he’s just talking, you know? He’s not like, “I listened to the prayers and I found Allah!” He’s just interested, as a student of religion, as a citizen of the world. He’s not confined by his Catholic upbringing and he seems to be encouraging the peaceful study of all religions. Or, whatever, he’s now a Muslim. What would the world look like if Liam Neeson converted to Islam?

Photos courtesy of WENN.