Harrison Ford didn’t hold back when he learned that some fans speculated that he suffered from some kind of social anxiety disorder.
During an interview for a cover story for The Hollywood Reporter, the 80-year-old actor said that he does not have social anxiety but does have “an abhorrence of boring situations.”
“S***. That sounds like something a psychiatrist would say, not a casual observer. No. I don’t have a social anxiety disorder,” Ford said when asked about the speculation.
“I have an abhorrence of boring situations,” he added. “I was shy when I first went onstage — I wasn’t shy, I was f***ing terrified. My knees would shake so badly, you could see it from the back of the theater.”
Harrison Ford addresses an assumption many fans have had about him for years: "I don't have a social anxiety disorder. I have an abhorrence of boring situations" https://t.co/q4IYuFMUX8 pic.twitter.com/ILM0AQ7JCc
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 8, 2023
“But that’s not social anxiety,” the “Star Wars” legend continued. “That’s being unfamiliar with the territory. I was able to talk myself through that and then enjoy the experience of being onstage and telling a story with collaborators.”
The interviewer pressed the “Indiana Jones” star further on what he does when he’s in a situation where he has to do something he doesn’t really want to do.
“I just buckle down and do it,” Ford explained. “There are things I don’t love doing, but I want to be gracious about it, and I don’t want to shove it into somebody’s face that I don’t like doing it.”
“They might be having a great time,” he added. “Like you might be having a great time right now, or you could be having a terrible time and are preparing to write some nasty s*** and I would never know. I’m just here to do my job, and my job, at the moment, is to help sell the product. This is what they really pay me for. The acting I’d do for free.”
When told that he’s at a point in his career where he could basically refuse to do press, the “Blade Runner” star said he would never do that because “That’s a prick. That’s wrong.”
At 80, Ford is keeping busy doing the Apple+ series “Shrinking” and the Paramount+ “Yellowstone” prequel show “1923.”