All-time Hollywood star Brad Pitt believes that he has a condition called face blindness. The 58-year-old actor admitted in a recent interview that his symptoms matched those of an illness known as prosopagnosia.


Brad Pitt Thinks He Has Difficulty in Recognizing Faces of Other People

92nd Annual Academy Awards - Arrivals
(Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: Brad Pitt attends the 92nd Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland on February 09, 2020, in Hollywood, California.

Prosopagnosia, sometimes called face blindness, is a neurological disorder that depreciates the ability of an individual to make up and recognize other people's facial features. Despite the hints being experienced by the actor, Pitt was not been officially diagnosed yet by any specialists.

The rare recognition disorder usually occurs upon birth. As the person develops this illness, their quality of life may be affected.

The actor explained in a GQ interview that it is slowly becoming quite challenging for him to recognize people around his circle. The lack of this ability worries him that individuals who meet him might get the impression that he is "aloof, inaccessible, self-absorbed,"

Pitt is open to meeting other people who potentially have the same condition. Coincidentally, journalist Ottessa Moshfegh, who also interviewed the star, has a husband that believes he has face blindness.

According to a report by Fox News, this is not the first account Pitt claimed to have prosopagnosia.

The report said that in 2013, Pitt explained in an Esquire interview that many people were struggling to understand his situation, while some thought he disrespected them.

Frequently, other individuals give him the context of the subject, and once he thanks them for helping him, it somehow annoys more people, Pitt continued.

ALSO READ: Evidence of Learning and Memory in Human Brain During Sleep Observed for the First Time


Because of prosopagnosia, Pitt believes people see him as conceited and egotistical. Being aware of the consequences of this unconfirmed prognosis, Pitt stays true to himself, saying that mysteries about his condition will soon be solved once he undergoes tests for prosopagnosia.

There is still no confirmation as to whether Pitt had himself tested for face blindness, and there is still no response from his team associated with the matter.

Prosopagnosia: Face Blindness

Prosopagnosia seems to be a simple neurological condition. Still, it could make a living harder for people because of the absence of the most common but overlooked ability that helps humans function.

People with face blindness do not allow a patient to grasp the facial features of random people, regardless of whether they are part of the family, closest peers, or strangers. Affected people cope with their illness by associating individuals with other features available such as voice, hairstyle, or clothing.

Face blindness comes in two types: developmental prosopagnosia and acquired prosopagnosia. The developmental type could be diagnosed without any damage detected from the brain. In contrast, the cultivated type manifests the illness following brain damage, often from a physical head injury or stroke.

Because the condition is usually found in children, symptoms parents should look out from their kids are their failure to recognize faces in unexpected meetings, extremely clingy attitude in public, difficulty making social connections at school, and failure to follow a simple plot of films and TV series, according to the National Health Service (NHS).

RELATED ARTICLE: External Electrical Stimulation Restores Upper Limb Control of Paralyzed Monkeys

Check out more news and information on Neurology in Science Times.