14 DAY TRIAL // Daryl Hannah rose to international fame when she was still just a teen but, despite what her fans saw of her in television and printed interviews, she was never confident or too comfortable in the limelight, having been diagnosed with Autism when she was just a kid.
This translated into “debilitating shyness” in her younger years, the 52-star recalls in a new interview cited by the British publication the Daily Mail.
After getting her start in acting and becoming famous, things got a bit more complicated.
“I’ve never been comfortable being the center of attention. It’s always freaked me out,” she says.
At certain points, her level of discomfort because of her shyness got so bad that she would rock back and forth, she explains.
She tried to keep her Autism diagnosis a secret from industry people, probably afraid that she wouldn’t be given a fair chance if anyone knew, or that she would not even be considered for roles at all. She was not afraid, she was “terrified.”
Today though, she’s learned to cope with the shyness and everything else.
“I’m a grown up now. I’ve learned a couple of things that really would’ve made my life easier if I’d known them 20 years ago,” Daryl smiles.
‘I wasted so much time scared, self-conscious and insecure. Life is too short to stress the small things anymore,” she says.
Daryl lives on a farm now, with her boyfriend of 3 years and many rescue animals. She’s one of the most high profile celebrity activists and even got herself arrested while protesting the Keystone pipeline with the Tar Sands Blockade, one year ago.
She’s also a very loud “promoter” of the anti-Hollywood beauty trend, believing women should age as gracefully and naturally as possible. She says she’s too much of a “coward” to go under the knife and hates it when people / tabloids say she’s had so much work done to erase the inevitable signs of the passing of time.