Patrick Stewart's son Daniel posts poignant tribute despite years-long estrangement after Star Trek icon's death at 86

Sir Patrick Stewart's estranged son Daniel posted a tribute to his Star Trek legend father after he passed at 86 despite the actor expressing 'regrets' about his estrangement from his two children.Stewart, who was best known for his time on iconic sci-fi series and his work on the X-Men franchise of superhero films, passed away on Wednesday following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.The 59-year-old actor took to his X account to share a sweet image of himself giving his father a piggyback ride.The snap was taken from their production of Johnson Over Jordan which they performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse back in 2001.Daniel did not caption or add any other words or context to the image as he posted the snap and let it speak for itself.His father had previously spoken about his complicated family life including regretting his estrangement from Daniel and his younger sister Sophie, 54 in the years before his death. Sir Patrick Stewart's estranged son Daniel posted a tribute to his Star Trek legend father after he passed at 86 despite the actor expressing 'regrets' about his estrangement from his two children (Above, the two in Los Angeles in August 2015)Stewart told the Irish Independent in 2023 that he had experienced 'significant grief' over the estrangement.Stewart said: 'Given that I'm separated from my children now – we don't have relationships – they have become very important.'The actor said that he was surprised and mired in regret over his 'non-existent' relationship with his children, who he fathered during his decades-long marriage to ex-wife Sheila Falconer.'I never thought this would happen, but both my children are in their 50s – they're not children anymore, they're adults,' Stewart said. 'And my relationship with them is practically non-existent.'Stewart appeared to take responsibility for the state of the relationships, saying: 'I always put my acting work first, before my family.'Stewart in the interview said that 'not a day goes by' that he didn't regret the situation, as he was 'pained by the memory of [his] children' and 'who they were'.He added he'd been upset by 'a sense of responsibility that they became who they are in part because of me and my influence or lack of influence on them'.Stewart told the newspaper that he 'could've done better as a parent, when [his] kids were little'.Three years ago, Sir Patrick Stewart spoke out about his complicated family life – including regrets over his estrangement from his adult children, Daniel, 59, and daughter Sophie, 54 Stewart met his third wife, Sunny Ozell, in 2008, when she was working as a waitress in a restaurant in Brooklyn'I was just obsessed with my work, and everything else took second place. I'm trying to correct that now, whenever possible with my grandchildren. And my own children seem to have forgiven me,' he said.Stewart also spoke about his relationships with Daniel and Sophie in his 2023 book Making It So, saying they were 'a work in progress'.He wrote in the memoir: 'The hurt caused by my split with their mother has never fully gone away. I do get on wonderfully with their children – my four remarkable grandchildren; the eldest in his early 20s and the other three in their teens.'Stewart was married three times: to Falconer from 1966 to 1990, to American TV producer Wendy Neuss from 2000 to 2003, and to singer Sunny Ozell, to whom he had been wed since 2013.Stewart and Ozell had crossed paths in 2008, when 'she was working as a waitress in a restaurant in Brooklyn', he told People in a 2022 interview.Stewart, who had been performing in Macbeth in Brooklyn at that time, said that they got to chatting after she said she'd 'wanted to see' the production.'It was the only time in my life I've given someone my telephone number and said, "Call me, I can get a ticket,"' he said. 'And that's what we did. And she came backstage afterward and we had dinner and here we are.'The two exchanged vows in Lake Tahoe in 2013, with Stewart's friend and X-Men co-star Ian McKellen officiating the proceedings. Stewart pictured in 2023, when he said he 'could've done better as a parent, when [his] kids were little' Stewart and son Daniel, who is also an actor, at a 2010 event in New York Before the estrangment, Stewart with Daniel and Sophie, and his second wife, Wendy Neuss, in New York in 1999 Stewart was married to American TV producer Wendy Neuss for three years The Star Trek actor with his first wife, actress Sheila Falconer, with whom he had two children, in LA in 1992 At the time of their wedding, Stewart was 73, while Ozell, a jazz singer, was 35.Ozell told The Daily Mail in 2015 of the age gap: 'He is so youthful and I guess I'm kind of an old worry wart so we bridge the gap. 'It doesn't come up much. He's in better shape than me, which infuriates me.'In a 2022 interview with People, Stewart spoke about his relationship with Ozell, saying: 'I've never met anyone like her before.'He added: 'She is so smart and so informed. And her intellectual accomplishments are extraordinary. She remembers everything.' The couple at Vanity Fair's 30th anniversary Oscar party in Los Angeles in 2024 The Shakespearean actor and his jazz singer wife, Ozell, at a film awards in Beverly Hills in 2024 The couple had celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary last monthStewart's death was confirmed in a statement published to his Instagram page on Thursday.The statement read: 'We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia [a brain disorder that affects thinking, movement, behaviour, and mood].'He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all,' the statement revealed. 'We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace.'