I just read the article on Rob Pattinson in the April 2011 edition of Vanity Fair magazine. I think I get it. He talks about not knowing who he is and wondering if he even wants to be an actor anymore. He talks about his brain not working anymore. “I haven’t any memory. I can’t write. All I can do is sign my name…” He knows that most people would tell him that he should be grateful for all his Twilight fame has given him…and he is, to a point. But, he doesn’t like to fly anymore because of the mobs of fans. When he had to get from Los Angeles to New Orleans in November to join the Twilight cast, he decided to drive so he could avoid flying. Navigating his way on an iPhone, two of his London friends, Sam Bradley and Tom Sturridge, went with him. He said it was great because no one recognized him for a long time – not until one day when they stopped at a bar in Lubbock, Texas, and word got out that he was there. It was so besieged by fans, that the police had to come and control the crowd, then escort him and his friends out the door.
I think I understand what he’s going through. Not that I’m a famous writer or anything. I’m not. I’m mostly a ghostwriter of other peoples’ books – a ghost who stands back in the shadows of other’s fame because I don’t particularly want to be in the limelight. And, I’m not a psychotherapist who analyzes people and diagnoses their personalities. But, I am a good judge of character. And, I am a Creative, so I understand this.
I believe it’s about balance. Rob’s life is out of balance. There’s way too much notoriety – too many public demands – too many Twi-Hards screaming for attention – and not enough time to just be himself – whatever that is he wants to be. He is a Creative – a spiritual being who is poetic and timeless. What I gleaned from his article in Vanity Fair is that he devours books, writes scripts and songs, plays guitar and piano, and is a bit ADHD when it comes to smoking and drinking coffee, tea, and water all at once. Those are his creative energies all pent up with no venue for outflow because he constantly has to hole himself up in a tight web of privacy lest Twi-Hards find him somewhere.
He is a romantic which is clearly obvious, as there have been many tales of him falling in love with Tai, his Indian-elephant co-star who plays “Rosie” in Water for Elephants. “She was the best actor I ever worked with in my life,” Rob says in his interview in Vanity Fair. “I cried when the elephant was wrapped…I never cried when anyone else was wrapped.”
He’s a renaissance man who needs solitary moments and anonymity so he can have the space to reach deep into that old soul of his and connect with a divine essence that’s older than time itself. I believe that what has happened is that his energies are being “burned” and that’s why he doesn’t have a memory and can’t write anymore. If a Creative does not have enough solitude to recharge the batteries, they will burn out. Period. It’s a frenetic type of energy that takes over the soul that doesn’t have the time to “chill” – to balance out. Too much alone time makes a person psycho-paranoid and pretty much a hermit. But, too much “outer time” – in which you are thrust in front of the public and media, will make a Creative person wild like a caged animal. The energies get fried and you can easily lose sight of who you are.
Oprah Winfrey said recently that as she expands into a wider network with her own cable TV station, OWN, she wants to make sure she never loses sight of the truth of her existence. She says that lately she has been asking God: “Please show me who I really am.”
Rob has said he doesn’t really know himself. I think that’s the same for any Creative who is thrown into hyper fame overnight. I’m not saying that this is actually the case because I can’t speak for him, and as I said, I’m not a psychotherapist. I am an observer of people though, and a Creative myself. I understand the need for balance and the need for the quiet times, the anonymity, as well as the “outflow” times when I’m engaged with people. I know that when I don’t have enough quiet time, my energies become frazzled and my world is out of balance. I, too, have trouble remembering things, and my writing becomes jibberish. And, I, too, sit with a cup of coffee, a tea, and a glass of water, rotating them nervously. I don’t smoke; for me, it’s chewing gum. I know it’s then time to go and reconnect with myself. To go to a movie, take a walk, meditate…just be. Being a “ghost,” I don’t have to worry about the paparazzi.
Rob’s film, Water for Elephants, based on the bestselling book of the same name, premiers on April 22nd, 2011. Also starring in the movie are Academy Award winner, Reese Witherspoon and Academy Award winner, Christoph Waltz, the Austrian actor from Inglourious Bastards.
Let’s hope that somewhere along this road of fame, people will give him the privacy he needs to be himself and that Rob will find the balance – between the fame and the quiet time – and that his Creative energies will create instead of burn. We need artists like him – a creative soul who was born to create
Comments