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Jesse Eisenberg Goes Viral After Hilariously Explaining Why He Feels 'Guilty' Taking Vacations

Jesse Eisenberg
Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The A Real Pain director and star opened up on Jimmy Kimmel Live! about how taking vacations as a celebrity leaves him "riddled with guilt."

It's safe to assume that most people who work grueling hours look forward to getting significant time off and—gasp—even going on vacation.

Not Jesse Eisenberg.


The Social Network actor explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live! why taking a vacation was something that gives him anxiety.

"I don't like vacations," he told Kimmel, and continued:

"I feel too guilty to go on a vacation. I have a very good life."

"I got to be a movie actor. It's like I won the lottery every day for the last 41 years," said the two-time Academy Award-nominated actor.

You can watch a clip here.


Eisenberg explained that he's felt "lucky" to have been able to travel for his job while filming in different locations around the world.

He said he can't just "lay back" as one would typically do on a vacation because he feels "riddled with guilt."

The 41-year-old's recent film is A Real Pain, which he wrote and directed.

The international co-production with Poland and the U.S. features him and co-star Kieran Culkin as mismatched Jewish American cousins honoring their late grandmother by traveling to Poland for a Holocaust tour.

Eisenberg told Kimmel:

"The places I've traveled to are basically like this movie is about those who go on…a Holocaust tour. Those are the travels I do."

He noted the last two vacation destinations he traveled to were a concentration camp in Austria and another with his family to Timisoara, Romania, the location of the 1989 revolution resulting in overthrowing long-term Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

"That's the only time I could go on a vacation and not hate myself," said Eisenberg.

People were awed and inspired by the interview.

Some even felt seen for his take on vacationing.

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

Others thought a traditional and relaxing vacation would do the actor and his son some good.

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

People enjoyed watching the interview.

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

@jimmykimmellive/Instagram

He also mentioned not telling his eight-year-old son about the time he went to a Disney park without him.

"I went to Disneyland during his lifetime without him," he said referring to when he worked abroad in Shanghai and was subsequently taken to Shanghai Disneyland.

Eisenberg added:

"I told him about it and he said, 'It sounded interesting, but when are we going back to Rwanda?'"

As a kid, Eisenberg said he had the same attitude against vacations not because of guilt, but more because of the prolonged sense of dread that comes when school is out for the summer.

"I hated school so much," he recalled. "When school ended June 16 every year, I would be so paranoid because I knew the entire summer was going to be thinking about September 8."

"It's like I'm more terrified of anticipating the bad thing than the bad thing coming."

When Kimmel asked if Eisenberg was bullied in school, he replied, "I wish, I wish. No. I always wish there was like some concrete thing…Everyone was nice to me. I was just miserable," he added.

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