Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz has clarified earlier remarks about his memory after saying his comments were misunderstood.
The 40-year-old returns to television this week, with the Malcolm in the Middle reboot arriving on Disney+ this Friday (April 10).
With longtime viewers anticipating the show’s comeback, Muniz has been speaking to press to promote the reboot. But one topic that resurfaced during a recent interview was his memory, after years of speculation about what he previously said.
In 2019, Muniz told People that he struggles to remember parts of his childhood, explaining: “I only know what it’s like to be me. Or have my brain. So, I’m only reminded of how bad my memory is when people I see, they come to me and go, ‘Oh, you remember when we did this? Remember we went on this trip to this country?’ And I have no recollection of it, but in my head, it’s not like I feel bad or sad about it.”
More recently, while appearing on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast, the actor addressed the attention those remarks generated and wanted to put the discussion into perspective.
“Just to bring up the memory thing a little bit, almost to clear the air,” he began.
“The story of that was taken out of context in a sense. I have — not memory issues — I have a bad memory.”
Muniz also noted that his recall isn’t universally poor, pointing out that he can be sharp in certain areas, including when it comes to learning lines.
He continued on the podcast: “This is now years of trying to figure out why I don’t absorb so many things. Well, since I was 8 years old, I have been non-stop doing things, flying here and doing that and just crazy cool things.
“And then I’ve also been an actor my whole life, where every single day, I’m pretending to be somebody else and having somebody else’s emotions and somebody’s happiness or somebody’s sadness or somebody’s anger or someone’s love interest and all these things.”
Muniz added: “They say ‘cut’ when you’re done with the scene and you forget about it. You never think about it again, and then you go on to the next emotion or the next day or the next character. And I almost feel like some of it has to do with the fact that I’m so used to just going, ‘Done with that,’ and moving on that I don’t even recall. I don’t even take it in.”