"I don't have people following me around, like bodyguards. I don't know how people live like that. Maybe the young movie stars have to live like that, I don't know. But it seems a little crazy to me. I don't think you need all that stuff"
About this Quote
The subtext is generational, but also professional. Hopkins came up in an era when actors could still cultivate mystique without turning their daily movements into content. By singling out “young movie stars,” he’s not just describing fame’s intensity today; he’s hinting at its new operating system: attention as currency, attention as risk, attention as a thing you hire muscle to manage. Security becomes both protection and branding, a moving barricade that tells the world you matter enough to be in danger.
His repeated “I don’t know” does strategic work. It creates distance from the culture he’s critiquing while sidestepping envy or contempt. Then he punctures the whole apparatus with a simple verdict: “a little crazy.” That phrase is understated on purpose; it makes the madness sound normalized, which is the real indictment.
Context matters: Hopkins is an elder statesman of acting, wealthy and acclaimed, yet projecting the old-fashioned luxury of privacy by choice. The intent isn’t to shame others; it’s to reclaim a version of adulthood in public life where you’re famous for your work, not escorted through your own existence.
Quote Details
| Topic | Contentment |
|---|---|
| Source | Verified source: AboutFilm: Interview with Anthony Hopkins (World’s Fastes... (Anthony Hopkins, 2005)
Evidence:
Well, I live an ordinary, simple life. And people think “Oh I bet you do.” But I do. I don't have people following me around, like bodyguards. I don't know how people live like that. Maybe the young movie stars have to live like that, I don't know. But it seems a little crazy to me. I don't think you need all that stuff.. This quote appears in a primary-source Q&A interview transcript on AboutFilm.com, credited to interviewer Carlo Cavagna, conducted in Los Angeles in connection with the film "The World's Fastest Indian" (USA/NZ, 2005). The site's film page shows a review dated December 2005 and links to this interview, strongly indicating the interview’s original publication timeframe is 2005 (not from a movie/script). A later reprint/republishing of a very similar passage appears on Hollywood.com dated 2006-02-06, but that would not be the first publication if AboutFilm’s December 2005 publication predates it. |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Hopkins, Anthony. (2026, February 10). I don't have people following me around, like bodyguards. I don't know how people live like that. Maybe the young movie stars have to live like that, I don't know. But it seems a little crazy to me. I don't think you need all that stuff. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-have-people-following-me-around-like-138359/
Chicago Style
Hopkins, Anthony. "I don't have people following me around, like bodyguards. I don't know how people live like that. Maybe the young movie stars have to live like that, I don't know. But it seems a little crazy to me. I don't think you need all that stuff." FixQuotes. February 10, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-have-people-following-me-around-like-138359/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I don't have people following me around, like bodyguards. I don't know how people live like that. Maybe the young movie stars have to live like that, I don't know. But it seems a little crazy to me. I don't think you need all that stuff." FixQuotes, 10 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-have-people-following-me-around-like-138359/. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.





