Robert Pattinson's Funniest Lies and Other Nonsense (An Exploding Clown Car?) in Interviews
Robert Pattinson's Funniest Lies and Other Nonsense (An Exploding Clown Car?) in Interviews
Alexandra Schonfeld, Brendan LeWed, May 13, 2026 at 10:25 AM UTC
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Robert Pattinson in 2024.
Credit: David Becker/Getty
Since the days of Twilight, Robert Pattinson has proven that he cannot bite his tongue.
Whether it's his honest opinion of the vampire love story or straight-up lies about the fate of a circus performer, there is no shortage of commentary from the actor that has made fans wonder if they can believe their ears.
In a 2024 interview with The New York Times, Pattinson explained that he used to become bored during interviews early in his career, which might have led to some of his more eyebrow-raising anecdotes.
"The only thing people would ever ask me about was being famous," he said. "You go into, like, a fugue state."
While on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2026, he admitted his tendency to fudge the truth began when he was a child, and he once got in trouble for lying to his schoolmates that Michael Jackson was his dad.
Since admitting to his lies, Pattinson said it has become part of his "shtick." To celebrate his 40th birthday on May 13, 2026, read on to hear some of Pattinson's most nonsensical musings, from his hair-washing frequency to childhood hand modeling.
01 of 10
Exploding Clown
Credit: NBCUniversal via Getty
While promoting Water for Elephants back in 2011, Pattinson recounted a fabricated story about seeing a clown die on a past trip to the circus.
"[The clown's] little car exploded — the joke car exploded on him. Yeah, seriously," Pattinson told Matt Lauer while appearing on the Today show. "My parents had to, like— everyone ran out. It was terrifying.... The only time I've ever been to a circus."
In a 2024 interview with The New York Times, Pattinson said he watched back the interview and was surprised with what he saw.
"There was absolutely no hesitation at all [in my voice],” he said about the fib. “I’m like, ‘What on earth? Are you possessed?’”
02 of 10
Future Restaurateur?
Robert Pattinson in 2024.
Credit: Francois Durand/Getty
In a quarantine-era interview with GQ, Pattinson explained a business idea he said he had concocted based on this thought: what if "pasta really had the same kind of fast-food credentials as burgers and pizzas? I was trying to figure out how to capitalize in this area of the market, and I was trying to think: How do you make a pasta which you can hold in your hand?,” he said.
He said he designed a prototype of this handheld pasta and even set up a meeting with restauranteur Lele Massimini about his "business plan."
A few years later in another chat with the magazine, he doubled down on the story, declaring, "I was fully, actually trying to make that pasta. Like I was literally in talks with frozen-food factories, and hoped that that article would be the proof of concept."
03 of 10
To Gym or Not to Gym
Credit: Jonathan Olley/Warner Bros.
Also in the 2020 interview for GQ he said he wasn't really working out for his role as Batman.
"I think if you're working out all the time, you're part of the problem," he said referring to other actors. "You set a precedent. No one was doing this in the '70s. Even James Dean — he wasn't exactly ripped."
He later clarified in an interview with MovieMaker that it was a joke.
“That really came back to haunt me," he told the outlet. "I just always think it’s really embarrassing to talk about how you’re working out."
“You’re playing Batman. You have to work out," he pointed out.
04 of 10
Dirty Hair, Who Cares?
Credit: Anita Bugge/WireImage
He also used the chat with MovieMaker to reference another much-discussed comment he made years ago.
“It’s the same thing as saying in an interview when I was like 21 that I didn’t wash my hair,” he said. “It just sticks for 15 years.”
More than 10 years ago, on the tail end of Twilight mania, when asked how long it took to get his hair "hair perfectly coiffed," he told The Chicago Tribune: "I have so much residue crap in my hair from years and years and years of not washing it and not having any sense of personal hygiene whatsoever."
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05 of 10
Unexpected Dinner Date
Credit: James Devaney/WireImage
During a sit down with David Letterman back in 2009, Pattinson shared that while filming a movie in Spain, he asked a fan who had been waiting outside of his apartment for days if she wanted to join him for dinner.
“I was so chronically bored that one day, she’d been out there for about three weeks, and I said, ‘Hey, do you just want to go to dinner or something? I mean, no one else wants to hang out with me.’”
He explained that she took him to her parents restaurant where he "complained about everything in my life" ... before she passed him the bill.
06 of 10
Royal Classmate
Credit: Getty(2)
On a visit to The Graham Norton Show, Pattinson shared that he used to tell people in L.A. that he had attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art with Prince William.
He said because he was English, no one doubted his tale.
07 of 10
Edward Is 'a Weirdo'
Robert Pattinson at the premiere of "Twilight" in 2008.
Credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Pattinson has also been known to share his brutally honest opinions about all things Twilight and in one scenario called his character Edward "a weirdo."
“With virtually anyone, the nice guys always seem to come last. You always get weirdos like Edward who seem to attract women for some reason," he told OK! magazine in the U.K. per MTV.
“If Edward wasn’t a fictional character and you met him in reality he is like one of those guys who would probably be an axe murderer or something," he added.
08 of 10
Child Hand Model
Robert Pattinson and Jimmy Kimmel
Credit: Carin Baer/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
While on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2011, the talk show host brought up that Pattinson had worked as a hand model when he was a kid. The actor couldn't remember if it was true, as the tale had become one of his "talk show stories" that he peddled around during interviews.
"My dreams have intermingled with reality now as I've talked about them so much," he joked.
Kimmel and Pattinson turned to the star's mom Clare in the audience, who adamantly denied the story.
They revisited the lie in 2026, and a smiling Pattinson said, "It is a good story, though."
09 of 10
California Living
Robert Pattinson on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'
Credit: Jimmy Kimmel Live/YouTube
During his 2026 interview for The Drama on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel read a list of Pattinson's "patently false" claims back to the actor.
"You told me, repeatedly, that you were living under an archway in Venice, [Calif.], under trashcan lids," recalled Kimmel.
"There was an archway in my house," the Batman star explained of the exaggeration. "That was based on that, I think."
10 of 10
So Gen Z
Robert Pattinson
Credit: Vanity Fair/YouTube
In a viral moment while promoting Die My Love with Jennifer Lawrence, Pattinson insisted repeatedly to the actress that he was part of Gen Z. (According to the Pew Research Center, Gen Z began in 1997. Pattinson was born in 1986.)
"You're not Gen Z, you're a Millennial. I believe that you believe you're Gen Z. What year were you born?" asked Lawrence during Vanity Fair's lie detector test.
"Doesn't matter," a grinning Pattinson answered.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
