Paul Mescal longs to remain a step away from the social media glare. Indeed, the 30-year-old actor, who shot to fame with his breakout role in 2020's 'Normal People,' has candidly admitted that he can no longer keep up with the frenetic pace of social media engagement. "I embraced it when 'Normal People' was taking off, but I remember thinking, 'If I keep it past this point, I'm screwed. It'll be forever attached to me, and I'll be stuck posting trailers and stuff,'" he told British GQ in a recent interview. "Avoiding the scrutiny and commentary is an uphill battle."
"They might not even know your fucking work," he added, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "And they'll be like, 'Your fucking nose is too big.'" While the 'Hamnet' star isn't double-tapping on any devices, he noted that having success without social media is quite the luxury. "It is a privileged position because I am aware that I've been very lucky," he explained. "But I've never been hired by a studio – I've been hired by filmmakers, and I think that's the key thing for actors to remember. I'm also acutely aware that I wouldn't necessarily follow the model that I've chosen because it might limit work accessibility."
As for the notion that success wouldn't have panned out for some of his peers if they hadn't been active on social media, Paul feels differently. "That's a fucking shame," the 'Aftersun' star said. "It's boring for studios to be reliant on that. We call out this absence of movie stars, and it's like, Yeah, of course there's an absence: we see everybody the whole fucking time!"
When it comes to the celebrity model he wants to follow, Paul admires another famous Paul. "The whole point of Paul Newman being so great is that he'd rock up to the Venice Festival looking unbelievably chic and cool," he said about the late movie star. "And then he would disappear."
Outside of staying away from social platforms, Paul is maintaining security with his personal life alongside girlfriend Gracie Abrams. Indeed, the 'Gladiator II' star previously revealed why he has no plans on sharing details about their low-key romance. "Everything to do with that is deeply precious to me," Paul told Rolling Stone of their bond in September. "I want to protect those things fundamentally."
