Michael Sheen no longer a twitterer

So, our man Michael Sheen has confirmed that he has left twitter, for the time being at least.  After toying with the idea for sometime, I have taken the decision to remove his twitter feed from the front of the site.

I must confess, I am devastated at the news but at the same time, appalled at the criticism that he has received on twitter from so called fans. 

When I started following Michael Sheen on twitter, he had less than 50 followers. At the time, I had been getting increasingly frustrated at a fake Michael Sheen for ignoring everyone's pleas to prove his identity.  It just didn't ring true. The posts did not have his (sometimes) surreal sense of humor or his eloquent speech.  As much as I yearned for it to be him - I knew in my heart that it wasn't.  When Michael started posting it was easy for someone like me - who has watched his video interviews far too many times, and read all the press interviews until I practically know them word for word - to spot the real deal.

I would have been more than happy just to have an opportunity to read his posts, to hear his thoughts and comments. I consider us all very fortunate that he took some of his precious free-time from his busy schedule to actually reply to a lucky few.

I have listened to the interview with Simon Mayo a few times now, where he gives his reasons for his absence.  The first reason he gives, and he has mentioned this in other interviews such as the Tavis Smiley show, is that he has a tendency towards narcissism. He is a man who is willing to admit his flaws, not just to himself but to others which should be applauded in my book.  I can easily imagine that there would be a danger of a greatly inflated ego if you are being told by almost 60'000 people everyday how wonderful you are.  I actually find it quite endearing, and am grateful that he has taken this precaution as I would hate for him to become as arrogant and conceited as a lot of his colleagues in the industry appear to be.  His modesty is one of the things that I find most appealing about him.

He also mentions the fact that the press had gate crashed our little party and spoiled the intimacy of the relationship between him and his fans by basically regurgitating his tweets... along with a few embellishments. 

He was then asked if he is missing twitter, and he agreed that he was, which means that at some level he is missing the interaction he had with his fans.

His final comment, which is the one that I gather has upset a few of his fans, was that he it now means that he has time to spend with his 'real friends'.  Some people I believe have taken this 'real friend' comment as a bit of a slap in the face, as if it was meant as an insult.  I actually think quite the opposite.

I am convinced that if Michael knew that he had upset his fans by this comment he would be devastated.  I personally think that the reason he made the distinction was to mean his 'real life' friends as opposed to on-line friends.

Although, lets face it, none of us can really consider ourselves his friends so why should the comment upset anyone.  Just because he has exchanged a handful of tweets with us does not mean we are his friends.  To me, the definition of a 'real friend' is someone who I know in real life, and have met on many occassions and have a mutual love and respect for, or with online friends - at the very least shared long and heart felt conversations. 

What I am trying to say is we loved him before he was on twitter so why should him leaving make us love him even less?  We should look back and cherish the time he was there as the special perk that it was, and although we may not have the direct conduit that we used to have, we can still show our love and support for Michael and his career the way we always have done - by going to the cinema and the theatre to see him perform, by buying the DVD's, by using his characters as inspiration for art and fiction, and by trying to convert every female that we know into appreciating his considerably talents!!!

Anyway.... I am off now to cry into a large oversized pillow *sob*.