[Image: Flickr]
Australian comedy legend and all-round larrikin Paul Hogan has peeled back the curtain on the rocky road with his son Chance — and let’s just say, it’s not all shrimp on the barbie.
The 85-year-old Crocodile Dundee icon sat down with Today show entertainment editor Richard Wilkins on Wednesday, ostensibly to chat about a new cut of the classic Aussie flick. But the convo took a more personal turn when the topic of his youngest son came up.
‘Hoges’, who’s swapped the Aussie sun for the LA sprawl, confessed he’s itching to move back Down Under, but there’s one major tie keeping him stateside: his 27-year-old son Chance.
“It’s where I belong,” he said when asked what it was like to be back home promoting the film. Cue every Aussie reaching for a tissue and muttering, “bloody oath.”
When Wilkins nudged him about actually relocating, Hogan didn’t miss a beat: “Oh, tomorrow.” As always, a straight shooter. But of course, life’s not that simple, even if you are Crocodile Dundee.
“I have business reasons and my son has to stay in the States for now,” he added, the tone shifting slightly.
Then came the elephant in the room: Chance’s very public spiral. Asked how the young bloke was doing, Hogan replied:
“Alright. Better than he gets. He gets a lot of tabloid stuff, but he’s a terrible person because he knows they’re watching him and he puts something on for them.”
Chance, his only child with second wife and Crocodile Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski, has had his name dragged through more headlines than a shock jock on a bender. The 27-year-old has become tabloid fodder thanks to erratic social media antics and unsettling public appearances.
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In January, concern peaked when Chance posted a series of bizarre Instagram Stories, wine in hand and slurred words dripping from his lips.
“This is my life. This is what it’s been reduced to,” he mumbled, sipping wine at a public table while trying (and failing) to keep his camera steady. And then came the gut-punch: “Please. Please kill me. I’m begging you.”
The videos sent fans into a frenzy, but Hogan, ever the unflappable Aussie dad, wasn’t rattled. When DailyMail.com caught up with him during a casual LA errand run in December, he gave a trademark shrug.
“Nah,” he said, with a grin, when asked if he was worried about Chance. “No. It’s a lot of made-up stuff and a lot of it he [Chance] does on purpose.”
I don’t know, man, sounds like a lost kid screaming for the attention he needs from those who really matter – his parents.
Despite the media frenzy, Hogan was warm and game for a chat, a rare sighting for the usually private star who’s kept a relatively low profile since his Dundee days. Originally from Sydney, Hoges left Oz behind after his 1986 megahit and set up camp in LA with Linda in the ’90s.
Since their divorce in 2014, Chance has been living with his dad in Venice Beach, which is not exactly your average father-son flatshare.
In November, photos surfaced showing Chance stumbling through Venice Beach’s grungier back alleys, clutching a beer like a man out of sync with his surroundings.
Hogan, it seems, is caught somewhere between Hollywood legacy and hands-on dad duty, with a son who’s part troubled artist, part tabloid bait, and all drama.
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[Source: Daily Mail]
