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Taylor Lautner on 'Twilight' fame: 'I was scared'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 1/27/22

Taylor Lautner was an "it" boy while playing heartthrob-turned-werewolf Jacob Black for the duration of the Twilight film franchise, and it definitely came at a price.

Whether diehards believed Bella (Kristen Stewart) should choose Edward (Robert Pattinson) or Jacob, the fanfare was overwhelming to a concerning degree for Lautner.

"Not many things in life can come and happen overnight," Lautner, now 29, told Jason Kennedy for TODAY. "Fame can. It also can disappear overnight. When I was 16, 17, 18 years old waking up and trying to just go out for a walk or go on a date, and I have 12 cars waiting outside my house to follow me wherever I'm going — or you show up to an airport or anywhere, and you have thousands of fans screaming — in the moment, it got frustrating because you just wanted to live a normal life."

"But then when that's taken away from you at all, you start to question yourself and start to be like, 'Oh, do people not care about me anymore?'" he continued. "When it goes away a little bit, you notice it, and that's the dangerous part because that can really mess with your mind."

At the height of his Twilight fame, as relayed by Kennedy, Lautner "didn't go to a grocery store, movie theater, mall for 10 years," and Lautner explained why: "I went so many years either not leaving my house, or if I did, [wearing a] hat, sunglasses and just scared. It built something inside of me where, even if I didn't know, I was scared to go out. I'd get super anxious to go out, so I just didn't."

Adapted from Stephenie Meyer's novels by the same name, Twilight first hit theaters in November 2008. Followed by it were The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012).

Lautner has had only seven acting credits in the nearly 10 years since, including recurring roles in Scream Queens and Cuckoo, because he wanted to take a step away from the public eye. His latest role — and first since 2018 — is in Home Team, hitting Netflix tomorrow (Jan. 28):

As for his personal life, Lautner got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Tay Dome in November.

"She was not Team Jacob," Lautner told Kennedy of his future wife. "So, she is marrying the other team. She was Team Edward all the way. She was diehard Team Edward, but you know, I've converted her."

Watch the full segment below.