Brad Pitt arrives for the 92nd Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, on Feb. 9, 2020. Image: AFP/Robyn Beck
Brad Pitt got candid about his suspicion that he has the condition called prosopagnosia, or “face blindness,” which makes it hard for him to recognize people’s faces.
The Oscar-winning American actor opened up about his struggles with prosopagnosia in his exclusive interview for the August 2022 cover of GQ, via Us Weekly and Page Six yesterday, July 6.
Prosopagnosia is a neurological condition that affects one’s ability to recognize faces—even those of close friends and family members, according to the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
While he was never officially diagnosed with the condition, Pitt said that he struggles in social settings such as parties. Particularly, he finds it hard to remember new people and recognize their faces. This led him to fear that he might seem “remote,” “aloof,” “inaccessible” or “self-absorbed.”
“Nobody believes me! […] I wanna meet another,” he said after his interviewer told him that her husband might have prosopagnosia as well.
Pitt first opened up on his suspicions that he has prosopagnosia during an interview with Esquire back in 2013. At the time, Pitt narrated how his inability to recognize faces came across as disrespectful or offensive to some people.
“So many people hate me because they think I’m disrespecting them,” he was quoted as saying. “So I swear to God, I took one year where I just said, ‘This year, I’m just going to cop to it and say to people, Okay, where did we meet?’ But it just got worse. People were more offended.”
Back then, Pitt explained that his suspected condition is the reason he prefers to stay at home, but he planned on getting himself tested.
Meanwhile, last month Pitt accused his ex-wife Angelina Jolie of seeking to “inflict harm” on him by selling her 50% stake in their French vineyard to a Russian oligarch. This was part of recent filings in Pitt’s lawsuit against Jolie in their years-long legal battle over child custody and assets.
The former “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” co-stars wed in 2014 before divorcing two years later in September 2016. /ra
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