Denzel Washington: 'I don't have any actor friends'

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In a recent interview with The Guardian, Denzel Washington discussed his career, family and friends.

The two-time Academy-Award-winning actor talked about the start of his acting career in 1975 and meeting his wife, Pauletta Pearson while working on the film Wilma.

In regards to friends in Hollywood, Washington told Xan Brookes from The Guardian, “but actually, even within the industry, I don’t have any actor friends.”

“My friends are old friends,” Washington continued.  “One’s an ex-music guy, the other’s a restaurant owner and the other’s an ex-pro ballplayer.”

According to The Guardian article, Washington was asked why he didn’t make any actor friends, and his response was: “Because I don’t make friends! Maybe I’m not a butt-kisser, maybe I’m not a schmoozer. I’m not about to go to a party to try to get a job. And then when you have children, the other friends become other parents. We’d coach baseball or basketball. My wife and I were raised right. I don’t want movie-star friends. And being African American, there were no big movie stars to hang out with anyway, not when I was starting out, they were just the third guy from the back! For whatever reason, I never befriended any white actors.”

In regards to the quote, one of Washington’s public relations reps offered some clarification to Yahoo Movies.

“I sat in on this interview,” the representative said. “The part they failed to mention was after he said ‘never befriended any white actors’ he mentioned ‘except,’ and then listed Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, etc. They cut the rest of the thought out. The rest is fine though.”

Washington is known for having a low-key, non-controversial personal life, and the 58-year-old didn’t delve too deep into new details.

Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals

*UPDATE* (2/28/13)

TheGrio has learned that the public relations representative cited from Yahoo Movies article actually does not represent Denzel Washington. Washington’s personal publicist from the William Morris agency, as reported by The Guardian, has now come forward and said:

“We did not give a quote to Yahoo! on this matter and see no reason for any further conversation relating to it.”

The Guardian additionally reports their original interview, which quotes Washington as saying he “never befriended any white actors,” did not concern Washington’s publicity team.