Barry Keoghan has been open and honest about his difficult childhood and the fact that abuse from fans gets to him. The last we reported on him was in December, 2024, when he deactivated his Instagram account due to online and in-person harassment after his breakup from Sabrina Carpenter. There’s a lot of pressure for actors to promote themselves online but it’s got to be difficult to manage the mean and pointed comments they get. Add in a popular singer’s rabid fanbase and I’m sure it can be overwhelming.
Barry is promoting his role in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man and he’s also playing Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’s upcoming three-part Beatles series, filming now. In a recent interview with Ben Harlum on Sirius XM, Barry admitted that he often stays home due to all the hate he gets. He’s also questioning his choice of a career. Here’s some of what he said and the video is below:
Ben Harlum: You’re from a small town and then now you’re thrust into an Oscar nomination… people are paying more attention to you. Do you have places you can go where you can just sit and be a normal person, where you can get a bit of privacy?
Barry: I’ve been blessed that I’ve got an incredible fan base and people are so lovely out there. It’s really nice when you do Q&As and you talk to people and you can be there with them… that is the good side of it. There is also a nasty side of it. I removed myself from online but I’m still a curious human being. It I attend an event or if I go somewhere, you want to see how it was received. It’s not nice. There’s a lot of hate online, it’s a lot of abuse of how I look.
It’s kind of past the point of like you know ‘everyone goes through that,’ and everyone does, but it’s made me shy away. It’s made me really go inside myself, not want to attend places, not want to go outside. It’s becoming a problem. I don’t have to hide away cause I am hiding away. I actually don’t go to places because of these things. When that starts leaking into your art, it becomes a problem, because then you don’t want to you don’t want to even be on screen anymore.
That’s really sad and a testament to the awful state of the Internet lately. A lot of actors are opting out of social media, which is smart, and others wisely turn off comments. They also have to guard their privacy so they’re less vulnerable to stalkers and predators. Even everyday non-influencer people viral for having opinions and get attacked. I like Barry, his vulnerability is part of his appeal as an actor. I hope he can get the help he needs. There’s got to be a way he can protect his peace and continue making art. Admitting that it’s a problem for him is the first step.
Photos credit: Robert Viglasky/Netflix, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
I like him too. If I ever became famous, I’d have to stay off SM. Cut it off cold turkey. I might go on to post for work and maybe like or comment on a few friends projects. And then I’d just log out again. And I could not look at the comments. But it’s hard. I don’t think it has to be go cold-turkey vs. being chronically online. There’s a balance but you gotta know yourself and what you can take. Me? I’d be like nope. I can’t take nothing and would read nothing. I’d be like Meghan. Barry is attractive and interesting to me. I’ve found him both cute and hot in varying roles. I’m so over calling people ugly bc they don’t fit a certain standard of beauty. So over it.
I think he’s attractive in a unique way. I say f*** the haters Barry. The internet is a cesspool of gross trolls that hide behind a keyboard.
I suppose it’s condescending to say he’s adorable but he is. And as a short girl myself, I’d have been into him if we met in the wild.
Agreed. He’s attractive in a unique way and has great presence on screen. There have always been Hollywood actors who didn’t fit the classic leading man archetype but had great careers in both leading and character roles (Yul Brenner and James Cagney played every role you can imagine, from outlaws to singing & dancing roles. Look it up!). The anonymity of the internet allows for faceless and cowardly commentary from people who don’t have the wherewithal to get in front of a camera to film some of the crazy scenes like BK has. All newly-famous actors have to come to grips with it and learn how to manage the impact on their mental and emotional mindset. Surrounding themselves with the right supporting people helps, too.
I think he’s smart to not read the comments. We recently saw Crime 101 and he’s fantastic in that too. He’s an amazing actor.
I think he’s got such an interesting face and physique that it’s hard to take your eyes off of him. He should really be proud of it and not listen to any of the haters who are just envious of his presence and charisma.
Interesting; I have to admit that I rarely encounter critique of his looks on the internet and in the comments, but I do often read comments, usually with receipts, how he doesn’t really parent his son or maintains meaningful contact.
Seriously, don’t see trolling comments on his looks, but abundance of comments on him being a deadbeat parent.
Same… I’ve never read any comments about his appearance, but I have read that he’s not a presence in his son’s life and he wasn’t great to his Baby Mama. I mean, I personally don’t like his hair right now, but if it’s what he’s into, that’s his business.
He was being called that when he was dating Sabrina. But at this point, how is anyone to know whether that is true. Unless something has been said recently by someone on the record, there is no way of knowing how much time he spends. There has been a lot of comments about his looks. And a lot of times people bring up reasons to justify talking negatively about his looks, like if he’s a bad parent then it’s okay. And frankly, we don’t know what kind of a parent he is.
Exactly Jais. The two are separate issues and doesn’t excuse the downright mean comments about his looks which are rampant on the internet at this moment. I think maybe he had a kid that wasn’t planned right at the moment his career was skyrocketing. Afterwards we don’t know what role he plays in his child’s life. But we do know when said child was an infant he was living the life awards season with a pop star which in hindsight is not a good look. And Sabrina was making him “ugly hot“ which was totally a thing at that time.
I get him and Ezra Miller mixed up. They look enough alike that I get confused on who is who.
I think Ezra (horrible person) looks more like Finn Wolfhard
Dudes, don’t date popstars, just don’t! Barry got super hyped and went too much in with Sabrina appearing in her vids object of her songs etc… Not saying it’s either of their faults but of course it was going to bite him back. I’m sad he’s feeling this trauma but he didn’t navigate his hot streak as he probably should have.