Barry Keoghan has spoken candidly about the impact online abuse is having on his life and career, revealing that hate about his appearance has made him reluctant to attend events, go outside, and, most troublingly, appear on screen at all.
The Oscar-nominated actor, currently filming his role as Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ Beatles cinematic event, opened up on SiriusXM’s Hits 1 about what life has been like since he stepped away from social media in 2024.
He was quick to acknowledge the positive side of his public profile first.
“I’ve been blessed that I’ve got an incredible fan base, and people are so lovely out there,” he said.
“It’s really nice when you do Q&As and you talk to people and you can be there with them and answer their questions and give them all of you. And that is the good side of it.”
But he didn’t stop there.
“There’s also a nasty side of it. And I’ve 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, you know? There’s a lot of hate online,” he said.
Adding, “There’s a lot of abuse of how I look, and it’s kind of past the point of, you know, ‘Everyone goes through that.’ And everyone does, but it’s made me shy away.”
He further said, “It’s made me really go inside myself, not want to attend places, not want to go outside. And I say this being absolute pure and honest to you. It’s becoming a problem.”
The Saltburn star said he has been actively avoiding public appearances because of the abuse.
“I actually don’t go to places because of these things,” he said. But it was his next admission that carried the most weight, that the hate has begun to affect his relationship with his own work.
“When that starts leaking into your art, it becomes a problem, because then you don’t want to even be on screen anymore.”
He also spoke about his young son, and the pain of knowing that one day he will be old enough to read what has been written about his father.
“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.”
Keoghan has Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man debuting this weekend on Netflix, and is filming The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event alongside Harris Dickinson, Paul Mescal and Joseph Quinn.
