NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 21: Famke Janssen attends “I Swear” New York Screening at Crosby Street Hotel on April 21, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Manoli Figetakis/Getty Images)
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X-Men Jean Grey actress Famke Janssen is discussing why she’s never had any desire to be on social media.
Janssen, of course, played the telepathic and telekinetic mutant in five X-Men universe movies, including the original trilogy, as well as spinoff The Wolverine and the sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past. Before her X-Men days, Janssen played Bond villain Xenia Onatopp opposite Pierce Brosnan’s 007 in 1995’s GoldenEye, and since then, she has been featured in dozens of screen projects, including all three Taken films and the Netflix streaming series Hemlock Grove and, more recently, Amsterdam Empire.
As such, Janssen has established quite a high profile on film and television, and that’s where she prefers the focus to remain. During a masterclass conversation during Malta’s recent Mediterrane Film Festival, Janssen (via The Hollywood Reporter) delved into why she’s never been on social media, nor will she ever be.
“I remember Greta Garbo with her famous words, ‘I want to be left alone.’ That’s been my journey in life. I’m not on social media. I haven’t done the traditional ‘look at me’ kind of [thing],” Janssen said at the event (via THR). “I have a different take on celebrity. Especially as actors, I feel that the less you know about us, about me in particular, the more I am able to show you who I am as that character.”
Not only has Janssen skipped having social media accounts, but she refuses to even look at them as an observer.
“Now everyone is a celebrity,” Janssen said. “We’re now living in this oversaturated time of literally everyone turning a camera onto themselves, going, ‘Look at me, me, me. I’m on Instagram. I have this many followers.’”
Janssen said another reason she avoids social media is to shield herself from the harmful negativity that comes with it.
“I personally really value my privacy more than anything,” Janssen said. “I guard it like Fort Knox because I feel that this is my tool — this endless source of creativity comes from within — and unless I guard that like crazy and if I let people in with all their criticism and all their negativity and all of that, it’s going to change who I am.”
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