Taylor Lautner was ‘scared’ to leave the house for 10 years after Twilight fame: ‘I’d get super anxious’

Taylor Lautner has revealed he avoided leaving the house as much as he could for 10 years after shooting to global stardom thanks to Twilight. 

The actor, now 29, was just 16 when he first starred in the film franchise as werewolf Jacob Black, who was stuck in a love triangle with Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). 

While the five Twilight Saga films may have brought him huge success, the legions of screaming fans chasing him around took a toll on his mental health. 

He revealed during an interview with Today: ‘Not many things in life can come and happen overnight. Fame can. It also can disappear overnight.

‘When I was 16, 17, 18 years old, waking up and trying to just go out for a walk or go on a date and I had 12 cars waiting outside my house to follow me wherever I’m going or show up to an airport or anywhere, and you have thousands of fans screaming.’

Taylor admitted that he spent the resulting 10 years avoiding doing things like going to the shops or cinema and it ‘felt like freedom’ when he finally felt able to get out more. 

He explained: ‘I went so many years either not leaving my house, or if I did, hat, sunglasses, and just like, scared. 

‘It built up something inside of me where, I didn’t know it, but I was scared to go out. I’d get super anxious to go out. So I just didn’t.’

After the final Twilight film was released in 2012, Taylor starred in films and TV shows including Cuckoo and Scream Queens but took a break from acting in 2016. 

He realised that the fame started to fade after he took a break from working, adding: ‘In the moment, it got frustrating because you just wanted to live a normal life. 

‘But then when that’s taken away from you at all, you start to question yourself and start to be like “oh, do people not care about me anymore?”