Sean Penn hates selfies and won’t go to gatherings of more than eight people under any circumstances. That’s why he was conspicuously absent from the recent 98th Academy Awards, where he won Best Supporting Actor (his third Oscar).
The revelation was made during a conversation between Penn and CNN anchor Caitlin Collins during a Friday afternoon talk at Spring Studios in lower Manhattan as part of the 25th Tribeca Festival, which runs June 3-14. Penn, a regular at the fest thanks to his long-standing public and private relationship with one of the fest’s co-founders, Robert De Niro, was as candid and uncensored as ever during his talk, jumping from topics like Ukraine (“They’ll win”) to his newfound passion for woodworking and why he’s become much calmer since his hellish youth.
Back to the topic of selfies.
Penn praised the host, telling Collins, “Covering this president taught me a lot about what real integrity is,” and “If anyone ever wondered who would win in a standoff contest, I think this week was as good as it gets,” before going on to explain why he didn’t attend the Oscars.
“It’s not just an awards ceremony,” he said. “It’s the same thing if this group were going to an afterparty and someone walked in. It’s always meant social discomfort for me. Too many people. I’m depressed now and determined for the life of me to never go anywhere to be in a designated group of more than eight people.”
The problem is that large gatherings “only allow 15 minutes per person,” which for him causes “anxiety” and “causes fear.”
“When I went in twice, I felt a sense of relief that we won because so many people had worked so hard for it,” he said, adding, “There’s politics there.”
Penn said he spoke with his One Battle After Another colleagues before the Oscars and they all agreed that it was “better for their mental health” not to attend. So he went to Ukraine instead and has been working tirelessly to figure out how the country is under siege by Russia and how much it needs Western support. Penn was still watching the Oscar ceremony in Ukraine, which started at 2 a.m. and lasted until 5 a.m., and said he was grateful he couldn’t be there.
“For the first time, I was able to really enjoy the Academy Awards,” he admitted. “It was wonderful.”
After taking the plunge to attend this year’s Golden Globe Awards, Penn has decided not to attend any more awards shows.
“The best thing I could muster was a sense of relief,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t going to do that again, so this year I went before that. I went to the Golden Globes, and I’d never been there before. And then I decided, ‘I can’t do this.'”
“[It’s]the ninth person,” he continued. “And it’s not as simple as, ‘I don’t want to be around fake Hollywood.'”
While leaving the Golden Globes, Penn was inundated with people asking for selfies, which made him no longer want to attend public events with more than eight people.
“Don’t take selfies with anyone. It’s bad for you, it’s bad for everyone. It’s soul-sucking,” he said. “Did a holocaust grandmother and a six-year-old child with hemiplegia roll into the car? That’s an absolute no.”
