“In the moment, it got frustrating because you just wanted to live a normal life.”
It has been ten years (!) since the final installment of the Twilight saga premiered in theaters, but it’s hard to forget the absolute frenzy that the franchise stirred.
Now, in a new interview with Today, Taylor Lautner — who played beloved werewolf Jacob Black throughout the series — opened up about the struggles of dealing with such enormous fame.
“When I was 16, 17, 18 years old, waking up and trying to just go out for a walk or go on a date and I had 12 cars waiting outside my house to follow me wherever I’m going or show up to an airport or anywhere, and you have thousands of fans screaming,” he shared. “In the moment, it got frustrating because you just wanted to live a normal life.”
Taylor revealed not only the difficulties of being an overnight celebrity, but the “dangerous” emotions that surface once that intense recognition fades away.
“When that’s taken away from you at all, you start to question yourself and start to be like, ‘Oh, do people not care about me anymore?’ When it goes away a little bit, you notice it, and that’s the dangerous part because that can really mess with your mind,” he said.
The fame was so overwhelming that for a decade, Taylor completely avoided grocery stores, movie theaters, and malls: “I was scared to go out,” he admitted. “I’d get super anxious to go out.”
But after some time and stepping back from Hollywood for a bit, Taylor has restored a sense of normalcy to his life. Now, he’s engaged to his longtime girlfriend Tay Dome, who — ahem — was not on Team Jacob. But I’m sure she’s switched sides by now.
