Michelle Pfeiffer Opens Up About Her Social Anxiety, Admits She First Found Fame 'Terrifying'

Michelle Pfeiffer The Edit
The Edit/Bjorn Ioossfor

The actress also shares what she thinks of being name dropped in Bruno Mars' song and why she won't watch her movies.

While she has graced numerous red carpets over the course of her career, Michelle Pfeiffer says social situations still don't always come easy for her.

In an interview with her Murder on the Orient Express co-star, Olivia Colman, for Net-a-Porter's The Edit magazine, Pfeiffer admits that she's much more at ease when she's by herself than with a group of people.

"I need to have my own private time and space to gather myself," she confides. "I can sit for hours just doing nothing, by myself."

Pfeiffer says she is especially uncomfortable when around people she doesn't know. "Sometimes when you’re in a social situation where you don’t know people really well, it feels a little like you’re being interviewed all the time," she explains. "It’s understandable, but somewhat exhausting."

Needless to say, it was hard for the 59-year-old actress to get used to being famous. "You learn how to move through the world; you become a little like a shark. If you just keep moving, people [double take] but you’re gone," she notes. "At the beginning, it really terrified me."

While the three-time Oscar nominee has landed some highly acclaimed movie roles, she still has a hard time seeing herself on screen and not judging her performance. 

"I look back at everything and wish I’d done it differently," Pfeiffer says. "If I’m scrolling the television and [a film I’m in] is on the guide, I can’t get by it quick enough."

The Edit/Bjorn Ioossfor

As for the film she felt didn't get the recognition it deserved, she replies, "One Fine Day with George Clooney. I think that on the opening weekend we got beaten at the box office by Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. That was particularly demoralizing."

Pfeiffer isn't just a big name in the movie industry, though. She also got called out in Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' 2014 hit song, "Uptown Funk."

"I was shocked and delighted and flattered -- I’m a huge Bruno Mars fan," she muses. "It did get a little embarrassing when I’d be at an exercise class and it would come on. Everybody just pretended that it wasn’t happening because they knew I was so embarrassed."

The Edit/Bjorn Ioossfor

Earlier this year, Pfeiffer also opened up to Interview magazine about the insecurities she feels as an actress and revealed she was "terrified" when working on the 1983 film Scarface.

Check out her incredibly candid interview: