Sean Penn Explains Why He Skips Awards Shows Despite Oscar Recognition
Sean Penn has given an explanation for why he chose not to attend the 98th Academy Awards when he took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Florence Pugh Criticizes Netflix’s “Slave Play” Emmys Response: “Ummm!”
“I don’t like awards shows,” the One Battle After Another star, 65, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Friday, June 5, while at the Tribeca Film Festival. “It’s not just not going because it’s an awards show,” Penn continued, as reported by Variety.
Penn further explained that he sees award shows as “social discomfort” for himself and “too many people.” “It would be the same gravity if this group were going to an afterparty and one stepped into the, you know what I mean? I’m now down, committed for life, that I won’t go anywhere to be in a designated group beyond eight people.”
Sean Penn Says Awards Shows Trigger Anxiety Despite His Oscar Wins
Penn elaborated that he believes these occasions only “give you 15 minutes per person,” which prompts his anxiety attacks and is “dread-provoking.” “Heidi told me I would get anxiety attacks,” Penn told Collins, according to the outlet. “The two times I had gone [to the Oscars], I felt relief that I’d won because so many people out there had worked really hard for that. There’s the politics of that stuff.” Penn has previously won Oscars for Best Actor for his roles in both 2008’s Milk and 2003’s Mystic River.
Sean Penn Says Skipping Awards Shows Improved His Mental Health
Penn recalled telling his One Battle After Another colleagues that not going would be “better for my mental health, ” and instead of returning to the USA, he went to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to support the country during the current Russia-Ukraine War, where he got an entirely different recognition, a miniature Oscar trophy made of metal from a war-damaged train, which was handed to him by Ukrainian Railways’ Oleksandr Pertsovskyi on March 17.
“Actually, that was the first time I’ve been able to really enjoy the Academy Awards, ” he commented in an interview about watching the ceremony from a distance. “I had a wonderful time.”
Earlier this year Penn shared that he had resolved to stop personally attending awards shows. “I guess the most that I could do was feel a relief, ” Penn added. “I knew that I would not be doing that anymore, and I did one before that this year. I’ve been to the Golden Globes only one time, and that was also my first time going. And it was there that I figured, ‘I cannot do this anymore.’
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He even expressed his frustration towards fans who ask for selfie pictures with him during the award ceremonies or outside. “Well, I’ll say it; people should really not take selfies with anyone ever, ” Penn said. It’s not doing you any favors. Not doing anyone any favors. Drains your soul, basically. ” It’s the Holocaust, Grandmother, and her 6-year-old paraplegic is wheeling over. It’s a hard no.”
