Robert Pattinson broods more than a My Chemical Romance song in both The Batman and The Twilight Saga. In the real world, though, the British actor is a born prankster who loves to troll the media.
Ever since his role as the glittering vampire Edward Cullen launched him into the superstar stratosphere, Pattinson’s life changed. The heyday of Twilight fandom saw him having to run and hide from photographers and fans alike, as everyone wanted a piece of him and he couldn’t enjoy a single second of peace and quiet without cameras snapping his every move.
While the celebrity landscape has evolved since the days of Twilight euphoria, the media-shy actor still tries to avoid the limelight as much as he can. It isn’t always possible, though, as he’s an established actor and that requires him to do press for his various projects. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Pattinson decided it was time to come clean about his past: He’d been telling tall tales to the media for years. The reason for this? Well, he was mostly bored with the line of questioning and wanted to have fun.
Pattinson revealed that he fibbed about boring a stalker of his into disinterest, being a hand model for women, and various other anecdotes about Twilight‘s deleted scenes. He also copped to a wild story about watching a clown die. But what in the world was this about?
Appearing on TODAY in 2011, Pattinson explained how his first trip to the circus traumatized him because he witnessed a clown die. He said: “His little car exploded. The joke car exploded on him.” Now, look, this does sound a little far-fetched to believe and even the reporter asked him if he was being serious, but Pattinson affirmed that it was all true and everyone ran out of the circus in terror.
Speaking about this specific lie and the others he told the media, Pattinson told The New York Times that “the only thing people would ever ask me about was being famous. You go into, like, a fugue state.” His only recourse was to make the interviews more entertaining for himself.
Expectedly, news of Pattinson’s fabricated stories made the rounds online, and X users had a field day with it. One commentator praised Pattinson as a natural born storyteller, writing: “Rob Pattinson’s storytelling skills are insane.” Another user made a Batman reference, stating: “Fighting clowns since he was a kid.” A few wet blankets criticized Pattinson’s shenanigans – most likely for engagement farming points – but for the most part, the actor was applauded for being a masterful troll in real life.
Pattinson’s revelations do leave a lingering question: How much do we actually know about the actor? If he’s constantly sprinkling lies into his answers, there’s no telling what is and isn’t the truth about him. And hey, maybe that’s what makes him that more interesting and an enigma.
All these stories about exploding clowns probably won’t make the Joker happy. If The Batman – Part II ever sees the light of the day, there’s a good chance that the Clown Prince of Crime might get the opportunity to have a word with Battinson about all the lies he’s spread about his brethren. Honestly, who makes up such atrocious stories about clown cars?