OMG, look at Colin Farrell. He looks incredible, right? Or am I hallucinating? You know who he reminds me of? Timothy Olyphant. I’d always found Olyphant attractive when he was younger, but as Olyphant aged, and he started rocking some grey at his temples, all of a sudden it was like “OMG, this man is FINE.” That’s what these Colin Farrell photos remind me of – Colin is sober, he’s fit and trim yet muscular, his clothes fit better and he’s taking better care of himself overall. Plus, the grey. And all of a sudden he’s no longer the mangy Irishman who won’t remember your name the next morning. He’s the Irish sex God who will bang you until the headboard breaks and then he‘ll make you breakfast. RIGHT? Or is that just me?

So these are photos of Colin at the American Giving Awards, where he was honored for his work raising awareness of Angelman Syndrome, which his first son James has. Colin is also a supporter of the Special Olympics, which is awesome. Colin has been giving more interviews about Angelman Syndrome lately and… I don’t know, he moves me. When he talks about his son, I’m moved and I’m consistently impressed with the changes he’s made in his life and how committed he is to being a hands-on father to a special needs kid. Last week, Colin was the guest of honor at the Chicago gala for the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics (FAST). He calls his son “Jimmy”, and here’s part of his speech:

“He’s kind of lifted me in that sometimes tremulous hand of his. I ain’t saying I’m a great man or nothing, but I’m getting to be about as good a fellow as I’m going to be. A lot of the reason is James has come into my life and gifted me the opportunity to look outside myself and to watch his every difficulty and to watch his insurmountable spirit just forge ahead in life.”

It was all so different a few years ago when Colin Farrell was on a Special Olympics panel in China. A journalist asked him why he was involved with the organization and, determined to protect James’s privacy, he gave a pat answer.

“I found myself not speaking about what I wanted to really speak about so much,” he said at the weekend. That night, he said he went to bed devastated that he hadn’t been honest: “I just thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s time. I just have to speak about him. And once I’m not protecting him, what’s going to happen if I speak publicly about his condition? Nothing really.”

He called his son’s mother, model Kim Bordenave, and suggested the time had come for him to acknowledge James’s condition. The next day he spoke about Angelman for the first time during an interview. Since then, he has helped raise awareness by talking about James’s condition whenever he is on promotional rounds. An appearance on the Letterman chat show in America led to a significant rise in donations to FAST and turned Farrell into something of a poster boy for AS. And, such has been Colin Farrell’s enthusiasm for the charity’s work, he sponsored 100 families which enabled them to attend last weekend’s conference and share their experiences.

[From The Irish Independent]

Sigh… all of that hotness, heart and then some. It’s okay to love him, right? We’re not complaining about how he’s dirty and stuff anymore, right? Because I love him, and I always have.

Photos courtesy of Fame & WENN.