David Walliams and his ex-wife, Lara Stone, share their 12-year-old son, and like most divorced parents, the duo take it in turns to have their child when it comes to the Christmas period.
During an appearance on Mike Hosking's breakfast show, which is hosted in New Zealand, the Little Britain creator revealed how the experience inspired his latest children's book, Santa and Son. The novel focuses on a young boy who is raised by a single mother while his father is a retired Santa Claus.
"This dad in the book is sort of a deadbeat dad but there's definitely a theme running through about parents, separated parents," he explained. "And so, I was thinking a bit about sometimes the pain you feel as a parent when you don't have your child at Christmas. I think at Christmas there's a sort of thing that we've all got to be happy but there's often sort of melancholy creeps in."
However, the pair will be able to spend some time together over the holiday period, with the father-of-one set to treat his son to a trip to the Maldives ahead of Christmas.
David's bond with Alfred
David and Lara welcomed their son on 6 May 2013, and the children's author is incredibly close to his son. Speaking to HELLO! back in 2022 about how close friend Simon Cowell changed after becoming a father, David said: "I remember saying to Simon because he was like 'I'm not going to be changing nappies' and I said it's actually a lovely thing to do for your child.
"It's intimate, it's very loving and it's your own child so you don't have a bad reaction to the idea it's fine, it's part of being a parent - I still think he's never changed a nappy."
© InstagramHe added: "He just doesn't do anything he doesn't want to do, so that will be on the list of things. It's different when it's your own kids it's part of looking after them, of loving them, it's caring for them and it's not that bad, you always think it's going to be much worse than it is, they're only little babies."
In a separate interview with us, the 54-year-old also explained why he prefers to keep his young son out of the spotlight. He said: "Being in the spotlight, I don't see how that would help them. You don't know what they're going to want to do with their lives. What's the point of them being on display, I don't understand it.
© Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock"They might choose to do something completely private with their lives in which case there doesn't seem to be any advantage to it. You've got to make your own choices about that sort of thing. I knew what I was getting into, this is what I signed up to. Making a television programme, you know it's different, it's unavoidable and if you're a kid it must be quite hard."
