Joanna Lumley has revealed she suffers from face blindness and has trouble seeing people she knows.
Face blindness, also known as prosopagnosia, is a condition that causes you to be unable to recognize faces you have previously seen, including the faces of friends and family.
The 77-year-old actress recently spoke about living with the condition on BBC Sounds’ Tracks of My Years podcast with Vernon Kay, noting that she “kisses everyone” as she can’t always tell who she knows.
Joanna detailed how this condition has “haunted” her and said she undergoes “tests” to see if she can remember a person’s face in her head after looking at them.
She explained to the radio host, “I have this weird thing with faces, I have face blindness.” It’s called prosopagnosia.
Entering: Joanna Lumley has revealed she suffers from face blindness and has difficulty recognizing people she knows (pictured in 2022)
Battle: The 77-year-old actress recently spoke to Vernon Kay on the Tracks of My Years podcast about living with the condition
“That means I can’t tell people apart by their faces. So if I don’t know who you are, I don’t know who you are.’
Vernon, 49, then apologized for not knowing, adding he “didn’t know it was like that.”
Joanna continues, “It’s a weird thing.” Stephen Fry has it too. That’s why I kiss everyone.
“I kissed you today. A because I wanted to. B because I actually didn’t know if I knew you or not. I can not say it.’
When Vernon probed further, he asked, “Are you blind in the face then?”
To which Joanna replied, “I need to know who the people are, I need to know in advance.” I always say, “Please tell me who will be there,” then I can match the name to the thing.
“I mean, a lot of people say, ‘Oh, but you meet so many people,’ that has nothing to do with it, it’s something else entirely. It followed me and I never knew what it was.
“And I would take a test. I looked at someone and then closed my eyes and see if I could see their face in my head. And I couldn’t.’
Difficulties: Joanna detailed how this condition has “haunted” her and revealed that she puts herself through “tests” to see if she can remember a person’s face in her head after looking at them
Interview: Vernon, 49, then apologized for not knowing, adding he “didn’t know it was like that.”
Speaking further about how prosopagnosia has affected her, she shared, “I’ve been to parties where I’ve literally been like, ‘Would you like another glass of wine?’
“I left, got the glass of wine, came back and I don’t know who I was talking to, I can’t see who I was talking to because her face wasn’t registered.”
“Isn’t that strange? Sometimes I don’t know if I saw that person that day or if I should have seen them.
“I kiss so many strangers they say, ‘Go away!’ And I say, ‘Look, do I know you? Was I married to you?’ Who are you? I literally don’t know!’
In addition to the inability to recognize people, prosopagnosia can also cause you to not recognize yourself in pictures or in the mirror, or to feel like you know complete strangers.
Tough Time: “I mean, a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, but you meet so many people,’ that has nothing to do with it, it’s something else entirely. It followed me and I never knew what it was.
Last year, Brad Pitt opened up about his experience with the disease and admitted that “nobody believes” him when he talks about it.
People with this disorder may cope by using alternative methods of recognizing people, such as remembering their walk, hair style, voice, or clothing.
It is believed to be abnormalities, damage or impairment in the right fusiform gyrus – a fold in the brain that appears to coordinate visual perception and memory.
Prosopagnosia can be caused by stroke, traumatic brain injury, or some neurodegenerative diseases, but in some cases it is present at birth.
What is face blindness?
Prosopagnosia is a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize people’s faces.
The severity of the condition, also called “face blindness,” depends on a person’s degree of impairment.
Some people with prosopagnosia may just have difficulty recognizing a familiar face, while others may not be able to distinguish between unfamiliar faces, and in more severe cases, sufferers may not be able to distinguish a face as anything other than an object.
Some sufferers are unable to recognize their own face.
Hollywood actor Brad Pitt, comedian Stephen Fry and former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt have all admitted to suffering from face blindness.
Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke