Why Can’t Brad Pitt Recognize You Anymore?

Brad Pitt's memory is shot … at least, when it comes to remembering faces.

The 49-year-old actor says he has developed facial blindness, where after meeting and engaging with someone, that person's face disappears from his memory as soon as they walk away. If they ever come in contact again, to him, it's like meeting an entirely new person.

"So many people hate me because they think I'm disrespecting them," the "World War Z" star told Esquire. "So I swear to God, I took one year where I just said, This year, I'm just going to cop to it and say to people, 'Okay, where did we meet?' But it just got worse. People were more offended."

[Related: Brad Pitt: ‘I Have Very Few Friends’]

The globe-trotting star, who has six children with Angelina Jolie, says the disorder has caused people to think he's, well, a jerk.

"Every now and then, someone will give me context, and I'll say, 'Thank you for helping me.' But I piss more people off," he says. "You get this thing, like, 'You're being egotistical. You're being conceited.' But it's a mystery to me, man. I can't grasp a face and yet I come from such a design/aesthetic point of view. I'm going to get it tested."

Despite not undergoing any testing, Pitt goes on to say he diagnosed himself with the medical condition prosopagnosia, which is the official name for facial blindness, after reading about it several years ago.

It's gotten to the point where he doesn't enjoy going out in public, which is "why I stay at home," he tells the magazine, adding that in his job, "You meet so many damned people. And then you meet 'em again."

So it sounds like the fine folks who met Pitt Wednesday night at a screening for "World War Z" in Hoboken, New Jersey, are already a distant memory to the star. He made a surprise appearance to introduce his film — and the audience went absolutely nuts, as you can see in this clip.

After thanking the fans for coming out and apologizing for the screening getting off to a late start, the ponytail clad star said, "Today we came out to show the film for the people we made it for — our fans! We said, well there's no other place better than Jersey!"

"World War Z" hits theaters on June 21. You can read more of Pitt's interview in the June/July cover story of Esquire.

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