Al Pacino details how fame 'scared' him: 'just not in my nature'

Al Pacino just revealed the cons of fame.

As the iconic actor opened up about his complicated relationship with his stardom, that led him to seek therapy, he spoke with Dermot O’Leary on BBC Radio 2, saying:

“Jack Kerouac, the great writer, best generation writer who lived in the city, couldn't cope with it and somebody said of him that he was embarrassed by success. Fame embarrassed him. So, I think I might have had a little of that in me, or something.”

“So, I didn't show up to a couple of the Oscars and I get a reputation - because they thought, somebody said and my representation said, ‘Oh Pacino’s not going because he’s not the leading actor, he's a supporting actor for the Oscar….’ Can you imagine me saying, ‘I don't want to go because I should be up there with Brando’?" he let out a laugh before stating, "It's just not in my nature, it's nowhere near it,” 

The Oscar-winning actor then continued, “And I knew that I didn't want to go because it scared me, frankly. I was working in Boston in the theatre and I was afraid.”

“Because feeling out of place is a strange feeling. I mean not being able to function because you don't know the language, in a way, it's a precarious place to be in. And I experienced it a few times because I was very famous and didn't even know it,” the 84-year-old Scarface star further explained.

Recalling how he actually opted to seek therapy amidst all the fame he garnered, Al Pacino detailed:

“And then I started experiencing it before I was even nominated for an Oscar. And I remember, I actually won the award, some great award, and I was in Boston doing a play, and I was staying over the director’s house, he gave me a room at his house, and I remember waking up and he said, ‘You won the National Board of Review Award for acting in the Godfather’, and I remember saying to him at the time, ‘wow sure that's cool’. I said, ‘Do you know a psychiatrist I can see?’ Right out of my mouth, because that's the state I was in!”