Taylor Lautner Recalls Being 'Scared' to Go Out in Public Amid 'Twilight' Fame

Taylor Lautner is looking back at his time making the Twilight franchise.

In an interview with Today on Thursday (January 27), the actor opened up about the attention that came with taking on his role as Jacob Black at the age of 16.

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Taylor shared that the fame became overwhelming and he felt he couldn’t “live a normal life.”

“Not many things in life can come and happen overnight. Fame can. It also can disappear overnight. When I was 16, 17, 18 years old, waking up and trying to just go out for a walk or go on a date and I had 12 cars waiting outside my house to follow me wherever I’m going or show up to an airport or anywhere, and you have thousands of fans screaming,” he told Jason Kennedy.

The Scream Queens actor explained that he wouldn’t go into a grocery store, movie theater or movie for 10 years, fearing that he would be recognized. He added that his first trip to a grocery store “felt like freedom.”

“I went so many years either not leaving my house, or if I did, hat, sunglasses, and just like, scared,” he said. “It built up something inside of me where, I didn’t know it, but I was scared to go out. I’d get super anxious to go out. So I just didn’t.”

After the final Twilight film was released in 2012, the attention subsided, which Taylor said was a strange feeling.

“In the moment, it got frustrating because you just wanted to live a normal life. But then when that’s taken away from you at all, you start to question yourself and start to be like ‘oh, do people not care about me anymore?’ When it goes away a little bit, you notice it, and that’s the dangerous part because that can mess with your mind,” he admitted.

He went on to say he felt “so much better today than I have in the last 4-5 years” after taking some time away from the spotlight, which he also credits to his fiancee Tay Dome.

When asked if he thought fame was “worth it,” Taylor said a few years ago he would’ve said no. “If you ask me now, now I say ‘no.’ I am happy because of what it’s taught me,” he said. “It’s made me who I am right now and for that I’m thankful.”

The actor is set to star alongside Kevin James in the film Home Team streaming on Netflix on Jan. 28. Check out the trailer here!