Barry Keoghan has shared an emotional perspective on the online trolling about his appearance. After the success of Saltburn, the actor was initially hailed as a heartthrob. But somewhere along the way, he became a victim of harsh and harmful online comments about his looks.
Barry Keoghan says he has been made to “shy away”
In a chat with SiriusXM Hits 1, Barry opened up about navigating his life in the public spotlight. The actor came from humble beginnings, growing up in a small town near Dublin, but has reached stratospheric fame in recent years.
“I’ve been blessed that I’ve got an incredible fanbase, and people are so lovely out there,” he said of his fame, before revealing the darker side of being in the limelight. “That is the good side of it, but there is also a nasty side of it.”
“There’s a lot of hate online,” the actor said, pointing to “abuse” about how he looks. For Barry, the trolling has “gone past the point” of what a typical celebrity endures. “[Trolling has] made me shy away,” he said. “It’s made me really go inside myself, not want to attend places, not want to go outside.”
“It’s becoming a problem,” he went on, revealing that the impact is now “leaking” into his art. “It becomes a problem because then you don’t even want to be on screen anymore,” Barry explained.
As well as the impact his retreat has had on fans, Barry pointed to how it will affect his son, too. “It is disappointing for the fans, but it’s also disappointing that my little boy has to read all of this stuff when he gets older,” he said.
The Peaky Blinders star has a son with his former partner, Alyson Kierans. The pair welcomed the boy, named Brando, in August 2022. He was later in a high-profile romance with Sabrina Carpenter from 2023 until 2024.
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF BARRY’S REACTION TO THE ONLINE TROLLING HE GETS?
