The cult of Robert Pattinson

Robert Pattinson is finding there’s a downside to fame, says Alex Pappademas in GQ. As the devilishly handsome vampire Edward Cullen in the movie Twilight, based on the best-selling novel by Stephenie Meyer, he’s become an object of perverse fascination.

Teenage girls mob him at autograph signings and leave giggling messages on his cell phone for “Edward.” Paparazzi follow him everywhere; recently they caught him in a gas station parking lot, quietly eating a takeout hamburger in his car. “I always thought I could hide,” he grumbles.

Much of what he says gets taken out of context: Once, Pattinson joked about never washing his hair, thereby unleashing a flurry of stories about his awful personal hygiene. Sometimes the rumor mill just makes stuff up. “There’s this thing about my supposed girlfriend. There’s this one girl who’s consistently mentioned. It’s like, ‘He’s dating this Brazilian model.’ What’s her name? Annelyse? I’ve never met her.”

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If you see a juicy gossip item about him, he says, it’s guaranteed to be a lie. “There’s literally not a single [true] story that could be written about me. I never do anything. I don’t see people. I don’t even have people’s phone numbers. I almost don’t want to have a girlfriend in this environment.”