From Netscape Celebrity

Isaacs' New Fatherhood, Wow

Although Jason Isaacs had a memorable time shooting his new TV series "Brotherhood," which premieres July 9 on Showtime, he says the best thing he walked away with from the experience was a brand new baby girl, Ruby. However, being in Rhode Island for filming while his wife was going into labor proved to be a lot more hectic for the British actor than he thought.

"On the day it actually happened, it was in the wee hours of the morning. I phoned home to see how my wife was, and she said her contractions were way apart. We thought all was fine, but the female director said for me to go home.

"I raced home, and by the time I got there, her contractions were closer, so we raced to the hospital, but we got horribly lost," explains Isaacs. "She was in the back seat in full labor, screaming the windows out. I pulled over to look at a map and she asked if we were lost. I said, 'No, no, darling.' She said, 'I f---ing hope not, because my water just broke!'

"I drove like a lunatic praying to God for any sign of life. In the end, we found the hospital and we arrived 17 minutes before Ruby was born, so that was quite exciting."

Having just injured himself during filming, Isaacs admits that he wasn't very much use to his wife in the hospital when it came to carrying bags or holding the baby. "I was in a sling because I did a stunt that went wrong, and I dislocated my AC joint in my shoulder. I was in quite a lot of pain, and I feel even now that I didn't get my fair share of sympathy because, within days of that, my wife was giving birth," he says with a laugh. "Maybe I'll get it the second time around, next time I injure it." And they wonder why women are so tough!

Emily Feimster