Lisa McLoughlin
Brad Pitt has claimed he has undiagnosed face blindness that affects his ability to recognise faces.
The Oscar-winner said his reputation for being 'aloof' and 'self-absorbed' might be tied to a neurological disorder known as prosopagnosia.
According to the Prosopagnosia Research Centre, one in 50 people suffer from the disorder, which can cause difficulty recognising a familiar face, following someone’s gaze, affect their ability to distinguish objects and difficulty judging a person’s age or gender.
The 58-year-old told GQ that he struggles to remember new people and faces but feels 'ashamed' when he can't.
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"Nobody believes me!" he added. "I wanna meet another."
Pitt first shared speculation about having prosopagnosia nearly a decade ago. In 2013, the Once Upon A Time in Hollywood star described the struggle he has due to people thinking that he is "disrespecting them", after he doesn’t remember their face.
The Fight Club actor told Esquire that year he was planning to get tested for prosopagnosia, and Carnegie Mellon extended an offer to have his brain imaged and examined by a neuroscientist.
Pitt said: "So many people hate me because they think I'm disrespecting them. So, I swear to God, I took one year where I just said, this year, I'm just going to cop to it and say to people, 'Okay, where did we meet?' But it just got worse.
"People were more offended. Every now and then, someone will give me context, and I'll say, 'Thank you for helping me.' But I piss more people off. You get this thing, like, 'You're being egotistical. You're being conceited.'
"But it's a mystery to me, man. I can't grasp a face and yet I come from such a design/aesthetic point of view. I am going to get it tested."
The condition can be so severe for some that they are unable to recognise their own family members, partners or friends.
The NHS states that there are two types of prosopagnosia, developmental, which occurs due to a genetic condition, or acquired, which is as a result from stroke or brain injury.
It is estimated that about 1.5 million people in the UK have developmental prosopagnosia, according to the NHS.
Previously, it was thought that individuals are more likely to develop acquired prosopagnosia but with continued research, it has been found that more people have developmental prosopagnosia than was first thought.
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