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Hugh Grant has admitted that he had children ‘much too old in life’.

The 64-year-old actor, who has welcomed five kids since 2011, said that being a father has given him a ‘heart’ and said he was just a ‘dried up, middle aged, golf addicted Englishman’ before he had them.

And he joked that he would love to embark on a ‘long stint’ somewhere to escape the chaos.

The Four Weddings and a Funeral star first became a father aged 52.

He shares daughters Blue, six, Lulu, eight, and son John Mungo, 12, with his current wife Anna Eberstein, 41.

He also has a daughter Tabitha Xiao Xi, 13, and son Felix Chang Hong, 11, who he shares with ex-partner Tinglan Hong, 45.

‘We think it’s five [children] but I had them much too old in life, you know I started when I was 52,’ he told the Smartless podcast.

‘Now I’m 64 and the youngest is six and I need a long stint in a sanatorium or an abbey.

‘I often look at the abbey that Maria lives in in the Sound of Music and wish that I loved there.’

Grant discussed his career and admitted he is ‘proud’ to have made so many romantic comedy films which have ‘entertained people’.

He said his acting ability has ‘got better’ with time and said that he thinks it’s a ‘mystery’.

‘I think it’s partly parts,’ he said.

‘When I got too old and ugly to do romantic comedies, and started being offered these weirdo parts, it suited me better.

‘And, I have two theories about it – one is that I learnt really much too late in my career that you have to mean it.

‘You have to think it, there’s a whole other script behind the script which is all about thoughts and feelings and prior to that I just thought I need to land this funny line.

‘That’s not the way to be good.

‘The other thing is that I have a weird theory that it was having children.

‘I think I was a dried up, middle aged, golf addicted Englishman, then I had children and suddenly I had heart and I had more layers, or something.’

It comes after Hugh and Nicholas Hoult sent About A Boy fans wild as they reunited 22 years after the hit romantic-comedy came out.

In the cult classic, Hugh plays Will Freeman, a rich, carefree man who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a 12-year-old boy named Marcus (Nicholas) after they meet at a single parents’ meeting.

More than two decades on, the Love Actually star and his former costar, 34, recreated an adorable scene from the beloved 2002 adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel.

Hugh shared a snap of them laughing outside in Los Angeles in their tuxedos, with Nicholas patting his friend’s shoulder as the actor appeared to crack a joke.

They appeared to have captured the heartwarming moment outside the The Ray Dolby Ballroom after attending the 15th annual Governors Awards on Sunday night.

Hugh posted the sweet shot alongside a still from the film showing Hugh’s character frowning as Nicholas’ character laughed at him.

The Bridget Jones’s Diary star shared the post on X, formerly Twitter, prompting hundreds of fans to flood the comments with their praise.