Orlando Bloom: ‘You can’t take fame too seriously’

Actor Orlando Bloom went from rings to riches. Making his breakthrough as Legolas in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, he’s now starred in some of the biggest movies ever made.

Coupled with his engagement to pop sensation Katy Perry, the 44-year-old is so Hollywood that you might be forgiven for not realising he is actually British. 

But after leaving the quiet cathedral city of Canterbury at 16 and becoming one of the planet’s megastars, Bloom is all too aware it could still fall away in an instant. 

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“I see a lot of dead bodies around me, a lot of careers that are just over so quickly,” he told The Big Issue in a new interview. 

“I give myself props just for even sitting here talking to you today. It’s been more than 20 more years and I’m still here.”

Still, here he is. His 2017 film Retaliation, in which he plays a sexual abuse survivor, will be released in the UK on March 26. 

Promoting the release, Bloom spoke about his rapid rise to fame in The Big Issue’s regular feature, Letter To My Younger Self. 

“In terms of preparing my younger self for ‘fame,’ I would honestly just say you can’t take that stuff seriously,” he explained. 

“And you can’t let it stop you living your life. There was a window when I was in my twenties, when we didn’t have Facebook or Instagram or anything, but there was still so much heat and attention on me. 

“I got really good at hiding myself because I was really, painfully, trying to live, without being just looked at the whole time. 

“I would say to my young self, just appreciate it and enjoy it, and know today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s fish and chip paper, especially with those kind of [celebrity] magazines.” 

At the height of his stardom, the Pirates of the Caribbean star would regularly appear in the tabloids, who would focus on his relationships with other famous women, including supermodel Miranda Kerr, his wife for three years. 

Bloom described himself as “very sensitive” and said the constant barrage of coverage did affect him. 

“I had this huge opening in my twenties and now I’ve got this chapter which could be even more exciting because of the lessons learned,” he added.

“I was never malicious, I wasn’t trying to take or hurt anyone, I was just trying to live my life. But that degree of fame… I don’t have many people I can talk to about that.” 

Read more from Orlando Bloom on his gregarious teenager years, drama school education and missing his dog Mighty in this week’s Big Issue, available through our online shop.