Jimmy Carr has confirmed that he had a son two years ago, and gave him the unusual name Rockefeller.
The comedian and 8 Out Of 10 Cats host had the baby with his partner, the Channel 5 commissioning editor Karoline Copping, in late 2019.
In a new interview with Radio Times, Carr revealed his son is named after John D Rockefeller, an American business magnate and philanthropist widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history.
He added: “Though also with a hint of Chris Rock, the greatest ever comedian.”
Carr and Copping have been together for 20 years. The comic is currently promoting his memoir, Before & Laughter, in which he discusses dealing with depression and anxiety in his twenties, his job in marketing, A-list anecdotes, and coping with his mother’s death.
A chapter is also dedicated to the scandal surrounding Carr’s participation in a tax avoidance scheme. “People thought, because of the type of comedy I do, that it was water off a duck’s back to me. But it wasn’t. It was really horrible. I had panic attacks, and I still do. I wake up to them,” he said.
A 2012 investigation by The Times accused Carr of sheltering £3.3m a year through the K2 scheme, a legal way of lowering the amount of tax paid.
Carr apologised at the time, saying he made an “error of judgement”.
