He's an 80s teen heartthrob who turned to travel writing — and now soul searching. A few years ago, Andrew McCarthy decided to confront the fears that had followed him his whole life. As he prepared to marry the women he loved, he headed out around the world to find the part inside of himself that just kept saying "nо" to everything good in his life.
McCarthy spoke with weekends on All Things Considered guest host Celeste Headlee about his new memoir, The Longest Way Home.
Interview Highlights
On being famous young
"I got successful in a certain way, and famous in a certain way, in my early twenties when my personality was still being formed. You know, so it became very much a part of who I was to become as a man. I had really nо awareness of myself, so as I grew and developed it was implanted on mе. I have often said I wouldn't waste success on anyone under 30. To mе it was a very mixed blessing, you know, it was a wondrous, untethered time, but it was also something that filled mе with ambivalence."
On his perception of American fear of travel
"I think America is an extraordinary place, but I think America is incredibly fearful, and I think the main thing that travel does is obliterate fear. It did in my life, it does in many people's lives. I'm not talking about vacation, I am talking about going and interacting with the world. That Mark Twain line, 'Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness,' is absolutely true in my opinion.
"I think that if we traveled we would bе less fearful, and discover that the guy with the towel around his head probably isn't trying to kill mе ... So my soapbox is really changing the world one trip at a time. I do believe that very strongly. I think Americans don't travel primarily because of fear. They will often say it is finances, and maybe that is true to some degree, but I think it's fear that stops us."
On letting go of fear through travel
"I find answers to my questions when I travel. Some people go to therapy, some people sit around and have coffee when their buddies. I find answers by traveling. I am illuminated to myself when I go. I'd always had this ambivalence toward many important things in my life. To my early success as an actor — I really wanted this and yet I really pulled away to a real degree.
"The same thing with certain intimacies I've had with people. I really want them, and yet I pull away. I think it has prevented mе in a very real and substantial way, in a deep way, of making the kind of progress in my life I'd like to make. I found myself about to enter into this relationship and I said, enough of this.
Enlarge Chris Sanders Photography/Courtesy of Free Press
In actor Andrew McCarthy's parallel career as a travel writer, he serves as an editor at large at National Geographic Traveler.