Barry Keoghan opened up about the impact of cyberbullying on his mental health, revealing how negative comments about his appearance have affected his personal life and career.
“I think I removed myself from online, but I’m still a curious human being that wants to go on and, if I attend an event or if I go somewhere, you want to see how it was received. And it’s not nice. There’s a lot of hate online. It’s a lot of abuse of how I look," he revealed in an interview on SiriusXM’s The Morning Mash Up.
The Irish actor admitted that the harsh comments have taken a toll, causing him to withdraw from public eye. “It’s made me shy away. It’s made me really go inside myself and not want to attend places, not want to go outside," he admitted. “It’s becoming a problem. So yeah, I don’t have to hide away because I am hiding away. I don’t have to go to places because I actually don’t go to places because of these things."
He also pointed out how cyberbullying could affect his career: "When that starts leaking into your art, it becomes a problem because then you don’t even want to be on screen anymore."
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Barry added that what weighs on him even more is the thought that his son, Brando, may one day come across the hurtful remarks.
“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.
Despite the negativity, the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man star expressed gratitude for his supporters, noting that positive interactions with fans continue to uplift him.
“I’ve been blessed that I have an incredible fanbase and people are so lovely out there, you know? And it’s really nice when you do Q&A’s and you talk to people and you can be there with them and answer their questions and just give them all of you. That is the good side of it," he remarked.