Al Pacino went for therapy as he was left so traumatised by fame

LOS ANGELES — Hollywood legend Al Pacino said that life in the spotlight led to him suffering the same feelings of discomfort one of his favourite writers experienced and that he had to seek therapy. 

Pacino became globally recognised after his portrayal of quiet soldier-turned bloodthirsty mafia don Michael Corleone in 85-year-old director Francis Ford Coppola’s operatic 1972 “Cosa Nostra” masterpiece “The Godfather”.

He talked about it during an appearance on BBC Radio 2 show: “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.”

Pacino said about his mental torment leading to him skipping Academy Award ceremonies: “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?’ 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… 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.

He then recalled a moment, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“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!”