Taylor Lautner was once one of the most popular boys on the planet. When he first appeared in the role of Jacob Black in the first Twilight film back in 2008, he immediately began to garner a huge fan base, especially among teenage girls. His appearance in the second film of the Twilight Saga, New Moon made things all the more intense as he did significant shirtless time in that installment. Taylor was only a teenager at the time that Twilight was being filmed and dealing with the reality of having screaming fans everywhere he went was not something he was taught.
Taylor now reflects on the time, recalling how it was completely uncharted territory for him and how his family helped him stay down to earth and in touch with reality during that time.
“When I was home, I still had to take out the trash,” said Taylor while speaking to CNN in a recent interview, “I still had to mow the lawn.”
Taylor said his parents told him, “We don’t care that you’re on the big screen. You still gotta do your chores.”
Taylor said his parents helped him understand that he was more than just his popularity and that it was not an easy task for them to do that.
“My parents definitely just put it into perspective. I think even for them it was uncharted territory for parents that have a 16-year-old going through that,” said Taylor.
And sure enough, it was important for Taylor to separate himself from his crazy popularity because after the Twilight Saga ended, Taylor saw a rapid decline in his popularity. Taylor described the phenomenon in the following words during the interview:
“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?’ It goes away a little bit. You notice it, and that’s the dangerous part, because that can really mess with your mind.”
Hence, due to all these reasons, Taylor decided to take a break from acting and the entertainment industry for a while following the Twilight Saga, in order to get his priorities and perspective right before returning.