Skarsgard’s naked upbringing

Alexander Skarsgard was a true hippy kid, said Mickey Rapkin in Elle. The Swedish star of TV’s True Blood grew up in a bohemian neighborhood in Stockholm, where his father—Mamma Mia! actor Stellan Skarsgard—would regularly host raucous parties for local artists, actors, and musicians. “It was pretty wild,” says Skarsgard, 36. “I’d fall asleep under the table while people were partying till 5 in the morning. I was probably stoned from secondhand smoke.” His parents’ freewheeling lifestyle caused Skarsgard some embarrassment as a teenager. “Dad was always walking around naked with a glass of red wine in his hand,” he says. “He didn’t care if there were people he didn’t know at the house. My buddies didn’t care. They’d seen him naked a million times. But it got a little uncomfortable when you brought a girl over, and Dad showed up naked with a glass of wine and tried to give her a hug.” Despite those awkward moments, Skarsgard says his upbringing left him with a healthy attitude toward the human body—something he thinks few Americans have. “There’s such a taboo here with nudity. In some people’s eyes [it’s] much more dangerous than violence. I never understood that. If a kid sees a nipple on television, how is that more damaging than watching someone bash someone else’s head in with a baseball bat?”

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