Colin Farrell's son James' initial misdiagnosis left actor hopeless

Colin Farrell is opening up about parenting his son James, who suffers from a genetic disorder called Angelman syndrome, which severly impairs both physical and mental development.

In a recent interview, Farrell recalled the worry he felt when his son was initially misdiagnosed with cerebral palsy.

The Phone Booth actor revealed that he and James’ mother Kim Bordenave sought medical advice when he missed developmental milestones as a baby, such as crawling and sitting up.

He told People: “[James] couldn't sit up. He wasn't crawling. I think he was a year and a half when we took him to get really checked out, and he was diagnosed as having cerebral palsy.”

“It was a common misdiagnosis, because it shared a lot of the same characteristics. And that was a downer for sure,” he shared.

However, James, now 20, was diagnosed with Angelman syndrome when he was about two and a half years old after he showed a unique sign of the disease.

Colin recalled: “One of the characteristics of Angelman syndrome is outbreaks of laughter. And the doctor saw that James was laughing a lot and doing this movement [he waves his hands].”

The 48-year-old Oscar winner has another son named Henry Tadeusz, 15, with Polish actress Alicja Bachleda-Curus. He has launched the Colin Farrell Foundation to educate and support adults with intellectual disabilities.