Prosopagnosia is a neurological disorder commonly known as face blindness which causes difficulty recognizing faces.
Brad Pitt is open about his day-to-day struggles with social interactions.
The 58-year-old Brad Pitt Oscar winner spoke briefly to GQ about the embarrassment he feels dealing with prosopagnosia; a neurological disorder naturally referred to as face blindness.
Pitt explained that although he wasn’t officially diagnosed with prosopagnosia, he had a tough time recognizing people’s faces, which led others to believe he was narcissistic and fabricated the condition.
“No one believes me!” He told the outlet about the August cover story, adding that he would like to meet and talk to other people with the condition. The actor previously told Esquire that he is often called “selfish” and “arrogant” because of his inability to remember people. “That’s why I stay at home,” he admits.
“So much people hate me because they think I don’t respect them,” Pitt said. “You get something like, ‘You’re selfish. You’re arrogant.” But that’s beyond me, my friends. I haven’t seen the face coming from such a design/aesthetic point of view.
The Bullet Train star said he once politely asked people to remind him where they met, but “people were more offended.”
“You meet so many damn people,” he added. “And then you met him again.”
People with prosopagnosia, or face blindness, usually avoid social interactions and may develop a social anxiety disorder.
According to the UK’s National Health Service, there are two types of prosopagnosia, developmental and acquired. Developmental refers to those with the condition without brain damage, which may be genetic. Studies show that 1 in 50 people may have developmental prosopagnosia.
Acquired refers to those with the condition after a brain injury such as a stroke or head injury.