The Scottish actor, who is well known for playing the Roy family patriarch in Succession, has admitted he sometimes feels like a failure over his first marriage not working out
While reflecting on his younger years, Brian Cox admitted he believes he “failed” in his first marriage after getting hitched at the young age of 21.
The Succession star, 79, opened up about the breakdown of that relationship and other challenges he faced while growing up during an appearance on the Coaching Stories podcast with Dr Sam Humphrey.
Brian married his first wife, Lilian Monroe-Carr, in 1966 but the couple split just a year later. He spoke about that time in his life, saying: “The only time I failed, I think, is probably in my private relationships. Certainly with my first marriage, it was not easy, and I think that’s where I kind of fell down.
READ MORE: Katie Price reveals stretched face as fans left concerned over weight loss
READ MORE: Tony Caunter dead: EastEnders icon who played Roy Evans in BBC soap dies aged 88
“Professionally, everything was in good nick, but I got married when I was very young. My mother used to say: ‘Brian, don’t get married too young. Your brother, affy stupid, got married when he was 20. Don’t get married when you’re 20’. I got married when I was 21… and I think I did get married too young.”
After that brief marriage ended in 1967, the Dundee-born actor went on to tie the knot with Caroline Burt in 1968. The pair were together for nearly two decades and had two children — Margaret and Alan, who followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming an actor. Brian and Caroline then got divorced in 1986.
The actor later found lasting love with German actor and yoga instructor Nicole Ansari-Cox, who he married in 2002. They share two sons, Orson Jonathan and Torin Kamran.
During the podcast, Cox also touched on his difficult childhood, which was filled with instability after the death of his father when he was just eight years old.
His mother’s subsequent mental health struggles left him to navigate much of his early life alone. “I was basically on my own from the age of eight until about 11,” he shared.
“I used to go to the cinema all the time. As a kid, I just went to the cinema endlessly. We had 21 cinemas in Dundee at one point, and I visited them all. I used to go on my own.”
Dr Humphrey, the podcast’s host and CEO of Grit Coaching, praised Brian for his candour after the interview, saying: “Brian was surprisingly open, vulnerable, and deeply personal in our discussion. It can be easy to brush past mistakes aside and not dwell on them — his honest account will no doubt inspire so many others.”
Brian is best known for his role as media mogul Logan Roy in HBO’s Succession, but the Emmy winner recently took on a very different challenge as The Controller in Prime Video’s 007: Road to a Million.
He described the second series of the reality show as “infinitely more dramatic” ahead of its premiere in August 2025, and added that he enjoys exploring the psychology of the contestants as they face high-stakes challenges.
