Denzel Washington Says He Doesn’t Have Acting Friends and This is Apparently an Issue

When you see how buddy-buddy actors like Ben Affleck and George Clooney are (and we can't forget an obligatory Affleck and Matt Damon friendship reference), it's easy to get the impression that everyone in Hollywood hangs out with each other. You know, like they all have a big pool party at Dustin Hoffman's, cooking $500 hamburgers on the barbeque and such, laughing it up at us little people.

When you see how buddy-buddy actors like Ben Affleck and George Clooney are (and we can’t forget an obligatory Affleck and Matt Damon friendship reference), it’s easy to get the impression that everyone in Hollywood hangs out with each other.  You know, like they all have a big pool party at Dustin Hoffman‘s, cooking $500 hamburgers on the barbeque and such, laughing it up at us little people.

But do you know who’s not on the guest list?  Denzel Washington.  Because he reportedly doesn’t have, or want, any acting friends.

In an interview with The Guardian, Washington pointed out, “Actually, even within the industry, I don’t have any actor friends. My friends are old friends.”  When asked to elaborate, he confessed, “Because I don’t make friends! Maybe I’m not a butt-kisser, maybe I’m not a schmoozer. I’m not about to go to a party to try to get a job. And then when you have children, the other friends become other parents. We’d coach baseball or basketball. My wife and I were raised right. I don’t want movie-star friends. And being African American, there were no big movie stars to hang out with anyway, not when I was starting out, they were just the third guy from the back! For whatever reason, I never befriended any white actors.”

In fact, Washington doesn’t see himself as a “celebrity” as much as he sees himself as an actor.  He added, “I’m a working actor!  What’s a celebrity anyway? Paris Hilton’s a celebrity. I’m just a working actor.”

Washington’s publicist later amended the story by claiming that The Guardian didn’t report the part about Washington listing Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, and others as personal friends. Thank goodness that was cleared up!  I was concerned that the fifty-eight year-old Washington was having trouble adjusting socially.

This all seems rather silly to me.  Who cares who Denzel Washington hangs out with when he’s not turning in great performances in movies like Flight?

via Yahoo!

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