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16th Jun 2020

Paul Mescal “uncomfortable” with some of the attention he’s been getting

James Fenton

Paul Mescal has had a fairly unique lockdown experience since being catapulted to worldwide fame on the back of starring as Connell Waldron in Normal People.

In usual circumstances, Paul Mescal would be running around doing the media circuit but due to Covid-19 restrictions, his chat show appearances and magazine interviews have mostly been broadcast from the comfort of his bedroom. One such publication that has managed to catch up with the 24-year-old is the Hollywood Reporter, with a revealing interview being published today.

In it, Paul is asked about a number of issues including how he is coping with being one of the biggest celebrities to emerge from lockdown – “You have the kind of stress and pressure of being in lockdown anyway, then you have the pressure being locked down during a time when something big is happening in your life.”

His famous GAA shorts are also referenced in the piece, although they’re simply referred to as ‘shorts Mescal has been wearing while out jogging,’ and being pictured while out and about is another topic that Paul was questioned about.

Paparazzi shots of the Kildare man wandering around London have become fairly common and it’s not something Paul is completely at ease with. He says: “Between the necklace and being photographed going to the shop. It’s pretty, pretty weird, and it’s uncomfortable. It just seems so insignificant in the grand scheme of the world.”

The necklace Mescal refers to is the one Connell wears throughout Normal People, which was such a hit with fans it even ended up with its own Instagram account. This was altogether baffling to the actor but he explains to the Hollywood Reporter how he managed to make some good out of the situation by raffling off one of his own chains for Pieta House: “I feel like I’ve reclaimed some form of ownership by raffling off one of my own personal chains for a charity in Ireland — Pieta — that deals with suicide and mental health, things that are directly associated with the show. So it was like, okay, I can make sense of this and feel some sort of ownership — it’s not something that is just directly happening to me.”

The Hollywood Reporter has 3.2 million followers on Twitter so there’s certainly going to be lots of eyes on Paul Mescal’s quotes throughout the day. You can read what he has to say in full here.

 

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