Actor Sean Penn said he avoids public events with more than eight people and dislikes selfies, which explains his absence from the recent 98th Academy Awards where he won Best Supporting Actor, his third Oscar.
Penn made these remarks during a conversation with CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins at Spring Studios in lower Manhattan on Friday, held as part of the 25th annual Tribeca Festival, which runs June 3–14.
Penn opened up about why he did not attend the Oscars, saying that the decision was a matter of personal comfort rather than industry politics.
“It’s not just [that it’s] an awards show,” he said. “It would be the same if this group was going to an afterparty and one stepped into that. That always represented social discomfort for me; too many people. I’m now down, committed for life, that I won’t go anywhere to be in a designated group beyond eight people.”
He added that large public gatherings “gives you 15 minutes per person,” which he said triggers his “anxiety” and is “dread-provoking.”
“The two times I had gone I felt relief that I’d won because so many people out there had worked really hard for that,” he said, adding, “There’s the politics of that stuff.”
According to Penn, he had discussed the situation with colleagues from One Battle After Another ahead of the Oscars, and they agreed it would be “better for my mental health” if he did not attend.
Instead, he travelled to Ukraine, where he has been working to draw attention to the war and advocate for Western support. He said he watched the ceremony from Ukraine, where it ran from 2am to 5am.
“I really got to enjoy the Academy Awards for the first time,” he said. “It was great.”
Penn said his decision to stop attending awards shows followed his appearance at this year’s Golden Globes.
“The best that I could ever muster was relief,” he said. “Knowing that I wasn’t going to do that anymore, I did one before that this year. I went to the Golden Globes; I’d never been to that before. And that’s where I decided, ‘I can’t do this.’”
“[It’s] the ninth person,” he added. “And it’s not the low-hanging fruit of ‘I don’t wanna be around all this fake Hollywood’ or something.”
He also recalled being approached for selfies while leaving the Golden Globes, saying the experience reinforced his decision to avoid large events.
“People should not do selfies ever with anyone. It’s bad for you; it’s bad for everyone. It’s a soul-sucker,” he said. “It’s the Holocaust grandmother and her 6-year-old paraplegic wheeling over? It’s a hard no.”