Alan Cumming tells people who don't recognise him that he's a porn star.

He said: "Usually they know, but I love it if they don't. Sometimes I say, 'Oh, I'm an artist.'

"Then sometimes if people say, 'Where do I know you from?' I always say, 'Do you watch a lot of porn?' "

While the 49-year-old actor - who is married to graphic artist Grant Shaffer - enjoys meeting people and starring in Broadway show 'Cabaret', he also "craves" having time to himself because his life is so busy.

He explained: "I crave it because I get so little of it. A couple of weeks ago I was going to San Francisco for my book and Grant, my husband, is from there so he'd gone a few days earlier to see his mum.

"I was on my own in our apartment, it was so weird I breathed such a sigh of relief."

Alan admits he has a lot more self-awareness nowadays because of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, but also puts it down to his "years of therapy".

When asked if he's always been self-aware, the Scottish-born star - who had a very violent childhood - added to Metro newspaper: "Not as self-aware as I am now. I think years of therapy will do that for you, also years of reading stuff about you.

"Hearing what people think of you, what message people get from what you do – that makes you self-aware.

"Things like Twitter and Facebook kind of replicate what it's like to be famous because you put images out there and stuff about you, and you don't know who sees it."