Jerry Seinfeld has opened up about his struggles with social interactions and admits he may be on the “autism spectrum” in a candid interview with NBC's Nightly News.
The 60-year-old comedian has never spoken out about autism before but he has attended events in the past supporting the illness, including the Night of Too Many Stars in 2012 and Autism Speaks charity gala.
Sitting down for a chat with Nightly News anchor Brian Williams last night, Seinfeld told the host: "I think, on a very drawn-out scale, I think I'm on the spectrum. Basic social engagement is really a struggle. I'm very literal, when people talk to me and they use expressions, sometimes I don't know what they're saying. But I don't see it as dysfunctional. I just think of it as an alternate mindset.”
Seinfeld is currently promoting the fifth season of his popular web series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, which pretty much does what it says on the tin, featuring the funny man riding around in vintage cars and grabbing a hot drink with some of his famous friends. The new season will see the likes of Kevin Hart and Sarah Jessica Parker joining Seinfeld in the car and he admits to being very selective of his choice of guests. "They're the only kind of people that I feel completely relaxed around. It's kind of an interesting sub-breed of humanity. I wanted to see if I could capture it and show people, 'Look at this group of people. Aren't they unusual?'”
"All comedy is distillation. So, I thought, 'What if you took a two-hour conversation and shrunk it down to 14 minutes? What would you get?' And I thought, 'Well, with certain people, I think you'd get something. I didn't know that this could be anything,'” he added.
Jerry Seinfeld says he struggles with "social engagement" (WENN)
The actor and comedian has had a hugely successful career for more than three decades, most notably playing a fictionalised version of himself in classic TV comedy series, but he hasn't hung up the mic just yet as he has continued touring doing stand-up. "I know that that's the healthiest thing I can do. If you're more interested in what you have achieved or what your financial position enables you to do than that thing that got those things, you're screwed. In my opinion, you're screwed,” he admits.
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