Barry Keoghan: Abuse about my appearance is so bad I don’t leave home
Barry Keoghan has said that he receives so much abuse about his appearance that he has to “shy away” from the world and stay at home.
The Irish actor, known for his roles in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man and Saltburn, admitted that he felt deeply insecure about comments he had read online.
Keoghan, 33, deactivated his Instagram account in 2024 and said “there’s a lot of hate” towards him.
He told US broadcaster SiriusXM: “A lot of abuse about how I look, and it’s kind of past the point that it’s made me shy away. It’s made me really go inside of myself and not want to attend places. Not want to go outside. It’s becoming a problem.”
The actor, who has a son named Brando with his ex-girlfriend Alyson Sandro, said “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.”
The Saltburn star previously told Louis Theroux that comments dubbing him “ugly” had upset him while he was dating Sabrina Carpenter, the American pop singer.
He said: “Some of the comments on my appearance are completely different and absolutely disgusting.”
Keoghan’s decision to delete his Instagram account was prompted by his break-up with Carpenter, the 26-year-old singer behind Espresso and Manchild.
The Irish actor shared a statement on X in December 2024 that read: “I can only sit and take so much.
“My name has been dragged across the internet in ways I usually don’t respond to.”
He added: “I deactivated my account because I can no longer let this stuff distract me from my family and work.
“The messages I have received no person should ever have to read them.
“Absolute lies, hatred, disgusting commentary about my appearance, character, how I am as a parent and every other inhumane thing you can imagine.”
Speaking to SiriusXM on Friday, Keoghan called the hate messages “a sad way to pick someone’s appearance apart”, adding, “people can sit there and make videos and be like ‘I don’t like his face. He looks weird, or he looks evil’ and pick you apart.”
One TikTok video with more than 150,000 likes asks: “Anyone else get extremely upset by Barry Keoghan’s face? Like genuinely his face is painful to look at. I get extremely uncomfortable when he acts/exists.”
Keoghan’s unconventional good looks might help him fulfil one ambition, however, playing the antagonist in a James Bond film.
Speaking to the Radio Times last week, he insisted he would not want to play 007 himself, but would “rather come in and do the villain”.
Keoghan is set to play drummer Ringo Starr in director Sam Mendes’ quadrilogy of Beatles biopics.
He told SiriusXM that he was having “an absolute f---ing brilliant time” on set.
Starring opposite him will be fellow Irishman Paul Mescal, who had been cast as Paul McCartney.
The Normal People actor previously denied suggestions that he was too good-looking to play William Shakespeare.
The 30-year-old starred as the Bard in Hamnet, the Oscar-nominated film based on the death of the playwright’s son.
Speaking to GQ, he said that his image described as “hot” was an inaccurate “projection”, adding that reducing roles to those who seem the best aesthetic fit would be “incredibly dull”.
The Telegraph, London
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