That's gold, although he's spent his entire career playing stoic macho characters so it shouldn't be too much of a mystery, my guess is that he said it in gest
Just because he played stoic macho characters, doesn’t mean he’s that way in real life. What he said could have been completely honest and from the heart.
He’s an actor. Maybe he’s a softy in real life and just that good at what he does for a living.