Daryl Hannah Reveals Autism Struggles

Actress Hannah Blames Autism For Fear of Hollywood Fame

After being diagnosed with autism as a child, Darryl Hannah thought that moving to Hollywood to pursue a career portraying other people would provide the best escape from having to be institutionalized as doctors recommended.

“Acting for me was about going to the Land of Oz and meeting the Tin Man,” she says. “It still is.”

“I’ve never been comfortable being the center of attention,” she says. “It’s always freaked me out.”

But in reality, Hannah says that her autism diagnosis instilled a deep terror about being in the spotlight, causing her to shun the normal publicity routine that actors need to stay in the public view.

She reveals in a recent magazine interview with PEOPLE magazine that although she achieved some modicum of success by Hollywood standards, she felt isolated from others in the movie industry and became increasingly reclusive, doing only occasional film roles.

Now 52, Hannah, who once dated John F. Kennedy,Jr., has not been in a major motion picture since “Kill Bill”. She devotes most of her time to environmental causes because she admits that she is not being offered any really good movie roles worth pursuing.

Hannah continues to be in the news these days for being arrested numerous times while protesting events she considers to be harmful to the environment, such as the construction of a pipeline that would transport oil from Canadian oil fields southward toward its ultimate destination on the American Gulf Coast.

“Nowadays acting is like a vacation from my real work as an activist,” she said.

According to Today, Hannah lives off the grid, relying on well water and solar power for her one-room home in L.A. and ranch in the Rocky Mountains, and driving a truck that relies on French fry grease.

“I wasted too much time scared, self-conscious and insecure,” Hannah says of her battles. “Life is too short to stress the small things anymore.”

On The Web:

Daryl Hannah Says Autism Made Her ‘Terrified’ Of Fame, Is The Reason She Left Hollywood
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/27/daryl-hannah-autism-terrified-fame_n_4002697.html