Actress Alicia Witt, who’s starred in eight Hallmark Channel Christmas movies and played the mom in 2024’s hit thriller “Longlegs,” has opened up about a lifelong condition that’s caused her to experience countless “awkward” social interactions with people.
On December 1, 2024, the “Christmas Tree Lane” star vulnerably shared in a series of posts on Threads that she has prosopagnosia, also known as “face blindness.”
Witt wrote, “i have face blindness for real. it’s called prosopagnosia and it means that while i remember names, conversations, backgrounds etc, the faces do not register. it’s awfully embarrassing. it’s estimated 2% of people have it.”
Alicia Witt Says ‘Awkward’ Interaction Prompted Her to Reveal Condition
GettyAlicia Witt and Kristoffer Polaha attend Hallmark Channel’s “Christmas on Cherry Lane” screening in New York City on December 7, 2023. Prosopagnosia is a condition that some people develop as a result of brain damage, but a small number have it from birth, according to The Cleveland Clinic, which says it is part of a family of “agnosia” conditions that interfere with how the brain processes information sent by a person’s senses. Witt decided to publicly share she has the condition after having “the most awkward experience” with an acquaintance.
She wrote on Threads, “i introduced myself to this gal who i wasn’t sure i’d met before, but whose name i know because we have several mutual friends, and she was sooooo offended that she squeezed my outstretched hand so hard i thought she was trying to break it for a second. seriously!”
Witt continued, “i was so confused. what did i do? til she told me we’d met before. told me where. i have zero recollection of this.”
The actress added that she frequently has similar interactions because people get offended when she doesn’t recognize them visually, writing, “i have to tell you – usually people *do* respond in the way this individual did. (not the hand squeezing – ouch! i tried to be sweet and compliment her after that and she was glaring daggers at me haha. i’m the gal who didn’t remember having met her)”
Witt went on to say it’s a “deeply embarrassing” condition, but “extra embarrassing” for someone in the public eye like her, explaining, “it’s happened even with people i ought to know really well – not only met once in a group, but many times. even costars!”
There are two types of prosopagnosia, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Apperceptive keeps patients from recognizing a person’s facial expressions and other non-verbal cues, while associative prosopagnosia is the type Witt has, which prohibits someone from recognizing another person’s face. In her posts, Witt also said she often doesn’t recognize herself in old photos.
Patients can learn coping mechanisms like memorizing other visual cues, from a mole on the person’s neck to the way they walk, which Witt acknowledged on Threads, writing, “i have to memorize a distinctive feature like a mole or a gap in teeth or an asymmetry. and so my brain grabs for those features and if i don’t see them, i’m liable to just think they are a stranger.”
Though Witt hopes sharing her story builds awareness and compassion, she admitted in her posts that explaining her condition “has never once done anything to alleviate the offendedness the average person seems to display when their face isn’t remembered.”
Asking for others to share their own stories, Witt was flooded with responses on Threads from fellow patients as well as fans thanking her for divulging her condition.
Alicia Witt Keeps Landing Roles Despite Condition, But Has No Plans Yet for a New Christmas Movie
Despite the social challenges of navigating life with prosopagnosia, Witt has managed to land some major roles over the last year. “Longlegs,” co-starring Nicolas Cage, was the highest-grossing independent movie of 2024, according to Variety.
Meanwhile, Deadline announced on November 25 that Witt has joined the cast of “Shiver” co-starring Maddie Ziegler, Levi Miller, and Greg Kinnear. The movie is based on a Young Adult fantasy novel by Maggie Stiefvater of the same name.
Many fans have voiced their disappointment that Witt, who remains good friends with many current Hallmark stars, hasn’t appeared in a movie on the network since 2020. The actress recently told a fan she still has no holiday movies on her schedule. In an Instagram post on November 11, Witt shared video from her 2016 movie “Christmas List” and replied to a commenter who said that “Very Merry Mix-Up” was their “absolute favorite” holiday movie of hers.
Witt replied, “oh thank you so much! it’s been 5 years since i’ve been offered one but i’m always up for it no matter how busy i am with other film projects – they were all such a joyous experience❤🎄”
For part of that time away from Christmas movies, Witt took a break from acting to deal with personal crises. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2021 and tragically lost both her parents that December.
Witt is also a busy musical artist, traveling the U.S. throughout December for her “Spending Christmas With Alicia Witt” concert tour.
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