Al Pacino says the pressures of fame left him ‘feeling out of place’ and made him seek therapy – as he reveals the REAL reason he skipped the Oscars

Al Pacino has candidly opened up about the challenges of fame, revealing it once drove him to seek therapy.

The celebrated actor, 84, won an Oscar for his role as a blind veteran in 1992’s Scent Of A Woman and eight additional nominations for his acting.

But despite his tremendous success, the star has always found fame to be a source of discomfort and unease.

Speaking to Dermot O’Leary on his BBC 2 Radio show, the Oscar-winning actor: said: ‘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.

The celebrated actor  won an Oscar for his role as a blind veteran in Scent Of A Woman and eight additional nominations for his acting (Pictured Pacino famously dancing the tango with Gabrielle Anwar in 1992’s Scent of a Woman)

‘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’? [laughs] It’s just not in my nature, it’s nowhere near it. 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.’

Elaborating further on the matter, he continued: ‘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. 

‘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!”

The Oscar winner has had an extensive career, with award-winning films like Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather under his belt, but previously admitted that he had more fun doing the job when he was younger.

The Oscar winner has had an extensive career, with award-winning films like Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather under his belt, but the actor admits he had more fun doing the job when he was younger (pictured: Al Pacino in Scarface) 

‘Usually when I make films, I’m not very happy,’ he told NYT Magazine. ‘They can be tedious, but you can go to your camper and do whatever you want.’ 

So how exactly does an award-winning actor spend his time in his trailer on set? Watching YouTube and TikToks just like everybody else, of course!

There’s so many things on YouTube,’ he said. ‘I even like TikTok when I see it.’

He particularly enjoys watching videos about rescue dogs and recently watched a video about a deaf girl getting her hearing again.

‘I love that stuff!’ he told the magazine.

As for his next role, the actor is gearing up to play Shakespeare’s King Lear. He was spotted in September in Los Angeles donning kingly attire.

He also recently helped celebrate his 30-year-old girlfriend Noor Alfallah’s birthday at a star-studded bash.

In an Instagram video from Noor’s 30th celebration shared on Thursday, the couple – who welcomed their son Roman in 2023 – looked smitten as the Oscar-winning actor helped her blow out the candles on her cake.

Pacino has four kids, with his other three children being adults.

He shares daughter Julie Marie with ex Jan Tarrant, and twins Anton and Olivia with ex Beverly D’Angelo.