The best piece of advice I’ve been given is don’t ever fly 3,000 miles for something you could find upstairs. I was told that when I was getting married.

With an American audience there’s a level of ownership over the country genre which is really significant - you have to convince them you’re doing it the right way. None of that exists when you go to Europe. So there’s a kind of freedom there.

I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I don’t give a shit. I believe in the songs and I really like them.

Listening to Merl Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash - they're so honest about themselves, and in many cases not flattering. I was grateful for those songs.

I think I’m sensitive to a degree, and I can become quite reactionary as well. But I don’t know anybody who wakes up in the morning – except for maybe Donald Trump – that is alright with having a bunch of nasty things said about them.

The reality is there’s a huge stigma attached to an actor who decides to do music as well and there are a lot of reasons for that. And almost all of them I agree with.

This idea that so much is out of our hands, I think it’s bullshit. And I think apathy is a really bad thing. This idea of like, ‘Don’t worry! Let it happen! It’s supposed to be!’ I don’t subscribe to that at all.

If I could take everything that I have come to understand by the time I’m 50 and be able to apply it when I was 25, that would have been awesome. But it doesn’t work like that.

My twenties were very exciting. In my thirties I got into a lot more things, from rodeoing to spending a lot more time with music and family. And my mid-thirties was 24, which was one of the great experiences of my life.

I will always say: I’m hoping tomorrow is going to be the best day I’ve ever had.

Relationship advice? I don’t particularly have any, but I do remember hearing George Harrison’s wife [Olivia] saying in the past that her friends came up to her and asked, ‘How did you make your marriage with George last so long?’, and she answered, ‘I didn’t get divorced’. I thought that that was pretty smart. It takes a lot of work.

It takes commitment to go through times that are tough, where you’re not going to like the person that you actually love. The couples that have managed to get through that and come out the other end, I will have respect for forever.

What guys will get out of country music is just being really straight. And the honesty of that is what I think people relate to.

The more I listened to my children - and honestly listened, as opposed to getting them to do what I wanted - the path to figuring out how to get from point A to B just became a lot more simple.

And it’s not easy to do. I’m not saying you should listen to a seven-year-old and take their advice, but it did help to understand what that perspective was.

Believe it or not, I sleep pretty well at night.

Kiefer Sutherland is playing Black Deer Festival, which takes place 22-24 June in Eridge Park, Kent.