Anthony Hopkins Rejects Wife’s Autism Diagnosis Claim

By Zoe Papadakis | Monday, 03 November 2025 01:08 PM EST

Anthony Hopkins has dismissed his wife Stella Arroyave’s belief that he may be on the autism spectrum. The 87-year-old Oscar winner stated he does not identify with the diagnosis and criticized modern mental health labels as “fashion.”

In an interview with The Sunday Times published Saturday, Hopkins shared that his wife once suggested he might have Asperger syndrome due to his personality traits. He described his obsession with numbers, detail, and order, adding, “Stella looked it up and she said, ‘You must be Asperger’s.'” However, Hopkins rejected the assessment, saying, “I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about. I don’t even believe it.”

Asperger syndrome is no longer a formal medical diagnosis, having been integrated into autism spectrum disorder since 2013. The Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic note that autism spectrum disorder involves differences in brain development affecting communication, social interaction, and behavior.

Hopkins, speaking ahead of the release of his memoir We Did OK, Kid, condemned the trend of labeling mental health conditions. “It’s all nonsense,” he said. “ADHD, OCD, Asperger’s, blah, blah, blah. Oh God, it’s called living.” He added, “It’s just being a human being, full of tangled webs and mysteries… All these labels. I mean, who cares? But now it’s fashion.”

The actor also reflected on his suspected inherited mental health struggles from his late father, Richard Hopkins, and recalled Laurence Olivier’s advice to seek psychiatric help early in his career. Though he briefly saw a therapist, he stopped after learning the professional had married three times.

In his memoir, Hopkins discusses his decadeslong estrangement from his daughter, Abigail Hopkins, whom he shares with his first wife, Petronella Barker. He wrote about leaving the family during struggles with alcoholism and later concluding he was “unfit as a father.” Despite attempts to reconnect after achieving sobriety, the relationship remained distant. Hopkins called the separation “the saddest fact of my life and my greatest regret,” stating his “door is always open” to his daughter.

Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has worked as a reporter, writer, and editor for newspapers, magazines, and websites.