Sir Anthony Hopkins is an Aspie

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Westworld' star Anthony Hopkins explores consciousness - The Desert Sun

Fascinating man and article.

An aspie actor? I would find acting hard. Keeping eyecontact and characterisation are just some of the obstacles many of us would face.

Paddy Consadine is a brilliant actor who also has AS

Aspergers is such a broad spectrum, I don't think I would be surprised at any person in the world being diagnosed with it.

I wish more celebrities who suspect that they are autistic would pursue a diagnosis. If nothing results from their assessments, they might ignore their suspicions, and no one would be the wiser. But, if they are diagnosed, they could add to the growing community of influential autists. Actor Dan Aykroyd and musician Gary Numan have famously toyed with the idea of being, and not being, autistic for years. I know that many celebrities are actually less affluent than they appear, but, it seems to me that most celebrities could easily afford an assessment if they really desire one. After all, if Menswear founder Johnny Dean could afford his diagnostic "nineteen pieces of paper," so could Aykroyd and Numan. It is time to stop playing at the fringe of autism, and follow Anthony Hopkins' lead.

I'd rather have actors who have autism stay in the closet than have actors who don't have autism like Jerry Seinfeld claim they do and make it even more of a trend for people who don't have autism to claim they do because of minor traits (what some people call "Asperger's Lite").

I never believed Dan Aykroyd had it either. When he claimed he had both Asperger's and Tourette's growing up, I thought he was just being mean-spirited toward both groups.

Sorry for the double post.

I would've never guessed he was an aspie, either. I'm glad, too, given the stereotype that all aspies are Silicon Valley nerds with the social ability of a falling hammer, either that or Rain Men in training.

The novel, Commoner the Vagabond, presents an aspie lead who, sad to say, doesn't paint like Rembrandt, play like Beethoven, or invent things like Tesla. How many of us are savants like that anyway?

I just read this and said to my wife, "you'll never guess which actor just revealed he had aspergers." She asked who and when I told her, saying I would never have thought it, she said she was not surprised at all. She said he played many idiosyncratic characters who have obviously atypical reactions to things and it made complete sense to her.

I just thought he showed an incomprehensible inner life, like everyone else.

If a celeb wants to say they think they are autistic it should not matter, it is their life, but life being unfair it does matter and in a bad way. What will follow is predictable claims that this is proof Mild/High Functioning/Aspergers people are not autistic or don't have real autism, claims that most self diagnosers are allistic excuse making trend followers. If you were not on WP when Seinfeld said he might be somewhere on the spectrum good for you. It was multiple simultaneous vicious and depressing threads. And this s**t was going on all in over the internet and the mainstream media also. Seinfeld was forced to retract. And despite all the claims of trendiness the Seinfeld fiasco seems to have had a chilling effect, Hopkins is one of the few if any celebs since Seinfeld to talk about this and it was not really a coming out but emerged as a natural part of a discussion.

I can not say I was surprised as I have heard some speculation. I hope news of this revelation travels beyond the Desert News and WP. Him both 79 years old and a respected figure goes against the "there are no old autistics" and "successful actors can not be Autistic" ideas. Let them try and say he is trendy faker. I hope this encourages celebrity autistics to start coming out again. I guess political necessity dictates the celeb needs to be professsionsly diagnosed before they say anything.