Hilary Swank Reflects on Taking 3 Years Off to Be with Her Father: ‘It Was One of the Most Important Times of My Life’

The Oscar winner, 49, looked back on her career hiatus which she took from 2014 to 2017 to care for her late father after he underwent a lung transplant

Hilary Swank has no regrets about the career hiatus she took to take care of her ailing father.

The actress, 49, talked about her latest project, Ordinary Angels, on the Today show on Monday, and after admitting that the film would have been her late father’s “favorite movie” of hers, she expanded on the time she took off to care for him several years ago.

“It was one of the most important times of my life, I think,” she said of her acting hiatus from 2014 to 2017, which she took to help her father undergo a lung transplant and recover from it.

Swank said she was “blessed” to be able to take the time off, and that it “deepened” her relationship with her father, Stephen, who died in 2021.

“We had a lot of fun as well,” she continued. “There was a lot of trials and tribulations within there, but it was extraordinary and nothing I would ever regret doing.”

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Swank — who stars as a struggling hairdresser who helps a widower find a liver transplant for his young daughter in Ordinary Angels — said the movie’s topic resonated with her given her own experiences with her father.

“My father was a recipient of a lung transplant so organ donation is a big, big thing to me and talking about it,” she said. “This movie came about three months after my dad passed, so I got this opportunity, I feel like it was sent by my dad, and to tell a movie about an extraordinary human being and family…. I think it would have been my dad’s favorite movie of mine.”

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The Fatale star opened up about her career hiatus in 2020, as she told Health magazine that it was “overwhelming” at times to be her father’s primary caretaker.

“It was supposed to be a year, because it takes a year to see if an organ transplant takes. A lung transplant is the most difficult of all, as it’s an incredibly delicate organ," she said. "The plan was to take off a year. I became my dad’s health advocate. One year quickly turned into two and then three.”

Several months after that interview, Swank revealed on Instagram that her father had died.

In the New Year's Eve post, she shared that she'd experienced a "tremendous personal loss" as her dad "made his transition to the other side" in October.

"I had a rather unique relationship with him as I was his sole caretaker after a lung transplant seven years ago. I grew incredibly close to him during this time, deepening our relationship and savoring every moment we had together," she wrote in the caption. "He will always remain one of my most favorite persons and not a day goes by that I don’t miss him."

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In October, Swank marked the two-year anniversary of her father’s death as she shared a sweet selfie with him on Instagram, writing,  “It’s been two years since you passed. You brought so much joy to all who were blessed to know you. Your memory still does. 🥰.”

“I love you forever. 💞🤍🙌🏽,” she added.

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