Expat Australian actor Sam Worthington has taken a not-so-subtle swipe at his homeland.
Sam and his wife Lara Bingle currently split their time between Sydney and New York, but the Avatar star revealed he had no plans to permanently move to Australia anytime soon.
talking to GQ AustraliaSam said he owed “everything” to his adopted homeland.
‘No. “I like America,” Sam said when asked if a move was in the couple’s future.
‘America has given me everything and I’ve been here for over 20 years, man. “There’s anonymity but there’s also a real sense of community, which is great.”
Sam added that he was also in love with New York, a place where his acting isn’t always the first topic of conversation.
Expat Australian actor Sam Worthington has taken a not-so-subtle swipe at his homeland
“I have friends there and we don’t even talk about my work,” he said. ‘In New York City no one gives a damn about my job. I love it.’
Sam also revealed in the interview that he would be working on some new projects in Australia in the new year.
“I was supposed to do another film next year, but we’ve pushed it now. Then there are some jobs in Australia,” Sam explained.
“When I was younger, you’d pick movies based on where they were filmed and say, ‘Oh, I’ve never been to that country, I’ll go do that.’ So it’s nice now that there’s some stuff in Australia.”
Sam’s comments come after he had an awkward encounter with a journalist on the red carpet at the GQ Men of the Year Awards earlier this month.
Channel Seven reporter Sally Bowery introduced Sam’s wife, 37, to viewers at the Sydney event by her maiden name Lara Bingle, and it all went down like a lead balloon.
“Her name is Lara Worthington,” the Avatar star, 48, responded.
“It’s only been ten years,” Sam quickly added, clearly irritated.
‘No. I like America,” Sam said when GQ asked if a move was in the couple’s future. ‘America has given me everything and I’ve been here for over 20 years, man. There’s anonymity but there’s also a real sense of community, which is great.”
“I have friends there and we don’t even talk about my work,” he said. ‘In New York City no one gives a damn about my job. “I love it,” he added.
Bowery quickly apologized for the misstep.
“That was my slip,” he said.
Later that night, the Avatar star was crowned GQ’s Man of the Year.
After Bingle’s red carpet gaffe, Sally clapped back at the actor in a column for Seven.
‘I said Lara’s maiden name. It’s not the wrong name. Just a name he had used for much of his life. “A name that was already well known long before she met her husband,” said Sally.
She insisted that Lara herself didn’t seem “the least bit bothered” by her slip-up and laughed as she shared her confusion over why Sam wanted to be referred to by her married name.
Sally argued: ‘So why at an event celebrating what it now means to be a modern man didn’t her husband do it? The identity of a married woman is much more than her husband’s surname.’
He then went on to quote Sam’s own acceptance speech when he was crowned Man of the Year hours later, in which he spoke about the need to overcome outdated notions.
“(He told) the crowd that men “can love others unconditionally and with respect, without having to live by some outdated standard or some stereotypical, archaic, and just plain sad idea of what a man should be.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” he concluded.
Sam and Lara began dating in 2013 and secretly married in 2014 and have since welcomed three children: Racer, eight, River, four, and Rocket, nine.
Sam’s comments come after he had an awkward encounter with a journalist on the red carpet at the GQ Men of the Year Awards earlier this month.