Louis Theroux says he's "very flattered" to be a sex symbol.
Louis Theroux
The 48-year-old filmmaker revealed that although he's grateful for the attention he receives from fans - which includes selling pillows and T-shirts emblazoned with his face - he feels there's a sense of "irony" attached to his support and feels it's his "gormless qualities" that make him attractive.
Speaking on 'This Morning', he said: "I'm very flattered by that and in fact, I remember when I noted there were people on the internet selling T-shirts and I just thought 'Wow who would have thought it'.
"At the same time, I was also aware there's a bit of irony built into it like I'm aware that it's not like, 'We think he's Brad Pitt.'
"Clearly there's some sort of sense of, 'It's his gormless qualities that we like.' Whereas I'd rather like to be a Brad Pitt style sex symbol."
The documentary maker also spoke about his new film 'Mothers on the Edge' which explores a rare condition called Postpartum psychosis where symptoms of mania, depression, severe confusion, loss of inhibition, paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions affect mothers, beginning suddenly in the first two weeks after childbirth.
Louis revealed that he chose the subject as he found it "fascinating" and wanted to delve into a story which had a "darker side".
He said: "I'm always looking for stories where there's really deep emotion and angst. I like to sort of acknowledge that darker side that we all have hopefully in a sort of positive way.
"Then a friend at work who had been pregnant was sort of reading up on postpartum psychosis - which is actual psychotic episodes which often is with a mum who's never had a history of mental illness - and I'd never heard of it and I thought, 'That's fascinating.' "
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