Andrew Garfield admits he has a secret Instagram and has considered leaving Hollywood

"I'm as addicted as anybody," the Oscar nominee said, describing his screen-time notifications as "horrific"

Andrew Garfield has revealed that he secretly uses Instagram, opened up about his complicated relationship with social media and admitted that he has frequently thought about leaving Hollywood.

The actor, 43, made the candid comments while discussing his new film The Magic Faraway Tree and his upcoming projects, including Wild Things, the Apple TV+ limited series about legendary magicians Siegfried and Roy.

Garfield admitted that, despite his concerns about technology and social media, he is still drawn into the same online habits as everyone else.

"I'm as addicted as anybody," he said, describing his screen-time notifications as "horrific" and saying he finds it "genuinely enraging" that people have less control over their impulses than they realise.

The actor said his private Instagram account often leads him down unusual rabbit holes, particularly content involving "weird ceramics" and Japanese craftspeople.

His relationship with technology has also informed his latest film, The Magic Faraway Tree, in which Garfield and Claire Foy play a couple who move their family from London to the countryside in an attempt to escape their technology-dependent lifestyle.

Garfield acknowledged that he can understand the temptation to simply throw a phone away. He said leaving his phone in another room is one of the easiest ways to avoid constantly reaching for it, adding that when the device is nearby, resisting the urge becomes much harder.

The actor also spoke candidly about his career and revealed that he has seriously considered walking away from Hollywood.

"All the time," Garfield said when asked whether he has ever thought about leaving it all behind.

He explained that he has spent much of the past year working continuously, completing around 11 or 12 months of projects back-to-back. Although he wants audiences to see the work he has made, Garfield said that, if he had the choice, he would prefer to disappear from the spotlight and spend his time in the countryside.

"If I had my druthers, people would just see them, and I could go whittle wood in the Somerset countryside and think about what the birds might be doing," he said.

Garfield's comments come during an exceptionally busy period in his career. Alongside The Magic Faraway Tree, he is preparing for the release of The Uprising, an action period drama, and Artificial, Luca Guadagnino's film about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. He is also starring opposite Jude Law in Wild Things, where he plays Roy Horn while Law portrays Siegfried Fischbacher.

Garfield said he signed on to Wild Things around a year and a half before filming began. When Law joined the project, he was immediately excited about working with him, joking that he wanted to be "front row" for the performance.

The actor has since developed a close friendship with Law, describing him as being like a brother.

Garfield was particularly drawn to the Siegfried and Roy story because of how extraordinary their lives were. He described the project as challenging but rewarding, saying the series goes beyond the flamboyant costumes and spectacle associated with the famous magician duo.

According to Garfield, Wild Things explores the "heart and soul" underneath their public image, including themes of woundedness, longing, love and danger.

The series is based on the extraordinary real-life story of Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn, whose Las Vegas magic act became one of the most famous entertainment spectacles in the world before a 2003 tiger attack left Horn seriously injured. Their professional and personal partnership continued until Siegfried's death in 2021.

For Garfield, the role represents another major transformation at a time when he has already taken on a string of varied projects. But despite his increasingly busy career, his comments suggest that the actor remains conscious of the pressures that come with fame and the possibility of eventually stepping away from the Hollywood spotlight.