James Norton is still hoping to have a "family and a relationship" following the breakdown of his relationship with fiancee Imogen Poots.
The 'Little Women' star started dating the '28 Weeks Later' actress back in 2018 and they got engaged in 2022 but split last year, and James admits he didn't have "control" over certain choices in his life but he's still hoping to find love and settle down.
He told The Sunday Times newspaper: "Getting older is a struggle if you are freaking out about the choices you’ve made, but I don’t carry regret. And, you know, some of the choices recently weren’t mine, yet I don’t feel begrudging. Maybe next year I’ll have a family and a relationship ...
"You have a certain amount of control over your life and choices you make, and at other times you don’t. But if you made those choices or not, it’s a shame to spend time agonising over either."
He added of his dream to become a dad one day: "I don’t sit on set where I’m playing a dad and feel sad and broody. I love hanging out with kids - most of my friends have kids so I’m not quite in step with my peers - but the past few years have been the busiest I’ve been, so it would not have been fair to bring a child into that.
"Also, the inherently unfair benefit of being a man is there is less rush. I am lucky I can have kids later, so now I’m happy, actually, with my life. I feel really excited by the choices I’ve made."
In the interview James also opened up about the bullying he suffered at school and revealed he took on a role in the play 'A Little Life' - playing a man who was abused when he was younger - in a bid to conquer his demons.
However, James found the role wasn't as cathartic as he hoped it would be. He told the publication: "I thought if I put my bullied child on stage, I’d get rid of him. It would be a moment of exorcism, but it wasn’t. And so every day, I just thought, it’s not working. There is no getting rid of that voice. Or the self-doubt. There is no killing that child."
He previously opened up about his troubled youth during an appearance on the 'Comfort Eating' podcast revealing he was bullied at boarding school and there was no getting away from his tormentors.
He said: “My school years were complicated. I didn’t have the greatest time. I was quite badly bullied for five years and I was at boarding school so I couldn’t leave.
"I’ve had a great therapist for the last four years, and it’s not from a place of drama. And I’m luckily not suffering from depression or anything like that but it’s been really, really helpful to understanding what [happened to me at school].
He added: "I’ve realised that boarding schools are really weird places. We’re the only country that still sends our kids away voluntarily.
"You’re stuck with these people, and all these young kids are just deeply, deeply homesick and they’re just lost. For some of them, that pain manifests itself in being needy or rebellious.
"But some of them get angry and rather than crying out for their mum they just bully someone."
