Thierry Lhermitte and Brad Bitt are two renowned actors with filmographies that are as long as an arm. But the two stars also have prosopagnosia.
This disease corresponds to a difficulty or inability to identify faces. This neurovisual disorder can be present from childhood (congenital prosopagnosia). It can also appear gradually due to a neurodegenerative disease (progressive prosopagnosia) or occur suddenly following brain injury (acquired prosopagnosia). A prosopagnosic person fails to properly process the elements that make up a face and thus associate it with a known face.
This disease was diagnosed 10 years ago in the friend of Josiane Balasko, Christian Clavier or even Gérard Jugnot. The 69-year-old comedian had told about Franceinfo : “When for the third time I introduce myself to someone who has said to me ten minutes before, ‘I’ve seen you before’, it’s horrible. So I blame it on the joke. indeed, it was sincere “.
The one who has been a sponsor of the Foundation for Medical Research since 2004. He even volunteered to play the guinea pigs of an Inserm team specializing in the study of the brain..
Angelina Jolie’s ex-husband spoke about prosopagnosia in the media in 2013. “There are so many people who hate me because they think I’m disrespectful. So I thought to myself this year I’m going to talk about it and say to people ‘OK, where did we meet?’. But it only got worse. People were more offended. They tell you ‘you are selfish, you are pretentious’. But the truth is, to me, it’s a mystery. I can’t memorize a face and yet I come from a design / aesthetic background.
See also: Thierry Lhermitte: his confidences on his rare disease
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