Taylor Lautner said he can now look back at his Twilight era with fondness rather than “resentment”.
At just 16 years old, Lautner shot to teen stardom with his role as the werewolf Jacob Black in the popular vampire saga’s 2008 debut film. He went on to reprise the character across all four of the franchise’s subsequent sequels.
It’s been just over a decade since the final chapter, Breaking Dawn Part 2, was released in 2012, and the now-31-year-old actor is finally able to reflect back on that period with “only fond memories”.
During a Thursday (18 May) interview on SiriusXM’s Today Show, Lautner spoke about struggling with fame in his Twilight years.
“I was always incredibly thankful and feel super blessed for what it brought me but maybe there was a little bit of, like, resentment, deep in there, going like, ‘I wish I could have experienced this part of normalcy’,” he said.
“But I do think that I also needed the space,” he added. “Now, I wouldn’t change it, but I think it needed the growth to get to that place.”
Following the completion of the Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson-led franchise, Lautner appeared in a handful of critical flops such as the action-thriller Tracers (2015), the Western comedy The Ridiculous 6 (2015) and the drama Run the Tide (2016).
Most recently, Lautner returned to the screen in 2022’s sports movie Home Team. This role marked his first screen credit in nearly three years since finishing up his 2018 role as Dale on the British sitcom Cuckoo.
Earlier this year, Lautner and his wife (also named Taylor Lautner) launched their co-hosted podcast, The Squeeze, where they speak to other celebrities and expert guests about mental health.
On a recent appearance on NBC’s Today show, the actor joked that he was “praying” for John Mayer following Taylor Swift’s Speak Now announcement.
“I think it’s a great album,” Lautner said. “Yeah, I feel safe.”
Swift and Lautner dated briefly in 2009 after meeting on the set of the romcom Valentine’s Day. Shortly after, the singer dated Mayer from 2009 to 2010 when she was 19 and he was 32.
