Sean Connery was well-known as James Bond himself when the movie franchise first started. However, to his wife and son, he was known simply as a husband and father. That was until his first wife called it quits.
He then met and married Micheline Roquebrune, who brought with her three children from a previous marriage. The couple raised the children together as they successfully blended their families.
Connery only had his son, Jason, from his marriage to Diane Cilento when he met Roquebrune. Cilento and Connery were married for 11 years, from 1962 to 1973. He did not hesitate to blend his family with Roquebrune’s.
While Sean and Micheline raised their blended family together, they did not welcome any children of their own during their marriage. They were all living happily until Cilento rocked the boat with a memoir.
Thirty-three years after Cilento and Connery divorced, in 2006, Cilento released a memoir. In the memoir, she claimed she was the hero of her own story for being married three times and overcoming challenges in failed relationships.
Cilento was a stage and screen performer who was famous in her own right but said that after Connery starred in the “James Bond” films, the family’s life was never the same again. She wrote:
“I could not live the rest of my life in the shadow of 007.”
The actress confessed that Connery mentally and physically abused her for years before they divorced, but losing her identity because her husband was starring in one of the most famous film franchises was the final straw.
When talking about her and Connery’s divorce, Cilento ensured that she made it clear she was the one who left Connery and not the other way around. She then said that people wanted to know what being married to Connery was like, but she had a more exciting life than that.
Later on in the memoir, Cilento also alleged that Connery had cheated their son, Jason, out of his inheritance by cutting him out of the will. Connery denied the rumors, saying he hadn’t seen her in more than 30 years and she knew nothing about his present life.
Talking about Cilento’s allegations about abuse and withholding inheritance, Connery said:
“Diane can’t move on from the breakup of our marriage, and I have already had to contend with her accusations about me being violent towards her. Now the lies seem to be getting even more vicious, and, what is worse, she is dragging our son into it.”
Jason later came to his father’s defense, saying that Connery had not cut him out of his will and that he and his father still shared a close relationship. In fact, Jason was the one to announce his father’s death.
When Connery passed away in the Bahamas in late 2020, Jason took to his social media to share the news with the world. He revealed that his father had been ill for some time and that it was a sad day for anyone who knew and loved his father.
After his father’s death, Jason was left with no biological parents as Cilento passed away at the Cairns Base Hospital on October 6, 2011, after battling cancer. She was married twice more after divorcing Connery.
After Cilento’s allegations against Connery, the press took the information she released in her memoir and published it far and wide. While the world was shocked at what was being said, Jason knew it was not true and said so.
Sometime after the information started to spread, Jason shared his thoughts on the matter, saying:
“I am truly sick of reading about my father and our relationship and of his being portrayed as some sort of monster or tyrant who rules my life by ‘cutting me off from his wealth.’”
Jason then said that his father had worked hard to earn his millions of dollars fortune, and he could decide what to do with it and who to give it to in the event that he passed away. He confirmed the allegation was “simply a lie.”
While Jason was quick to come to his father’s defense, Connery, who was 77 and living in the Bahamas at the time, refused to comment on whether or not he had told his son he would not be receiving an inheritance.
Jason is his father’s double, not just in looks but in career too. The young man followed in his father’s acting footsteps and had many acting credits. However, he began directing in 2006 and followed that path.
When Jason got into acting, he recalled having to prove himself as a worthy actor as people thought he would get what he wanted because his parents were famous. He admitted:
“I was very aware of who Dad was, and everybody else was. I felt very much like I had to defend myself or I had to say, ‘I’m not just his son. I can act. I am not just riding on his coattails.’”
Jason also shared that he and his father had a common love for golf. They would play together whenever possible, and he said he had “sunny” memories of him and his father playing goof together.
In 2017, Jason was asked whether or not Connery was still playing golf, and Jason confirmed that at 86 years old, Connery was still on the golf course when he got the chance. He mentioned that when Connery lived in Spain, they played a lot there.
Jason recalled going with his stepmother and stepbrother to play with his father. He admitted that he romanticized it because it was not always easy, but he had fond memories of playing with his dad and stepfamily.
When Connery passed away in 2020, he left behind Roquebrune, Jason, and his stepchildren. He was estimated to be worth $350 million at the time of his death. That wealth was not immediately given to any member of Connery’s family, though.
Throughout his life, any money that Connery accumulated from acting went into various trusts. When Connery died, his money remained in the various trusts, and it was unclear exactly where the money would go after that. The information still has not been released.