THE LORD OF THE RINGS star had to spend a great deal of time away from his three children when he was an aspiring actor - something he deeply regrets.

He says, "I don't have many regrets in my life, but that has to be one of them - knowing my kids are growing up without their dad around.

"When I first filmed Sharp I'd be away from them for months on end and that was tough. You'd go away in late summer, knowing you wouldn't see them again until there was snow on the ground and that was f**king heartbreaking.

"My kids mean the world to me and I hated being away from them. So that doesn't happen anymore. Either they come to me or I go to them, if I'm working - I insist that happens.

"My days of being an absentee dad are well and truly over. I've been there and done that and I don't ever want to do that again."

SEAN BEAN and family at the premiere of ' National Treasure', Los Angeles, California- 08.11.04