Patrick Stewart Reveals His NSFW Mantra Before Acting And It's Freakin' Funny

Patrick Stewart revealed his pre-performance mantra on the “The Late Late Show” Tuesday ― and it isn’t what you’d expect from a Shakespearean stage actor who’s also starred in “Star Trek” and “X-Men.” (Watch the video below.)

When host James Corden brought up the subject, Stewart asked the audience, “You’re all grown-ups, yeah?” as if to warn them of the words to come.

And he didn’t disappoint.

He said that, for decades, he gave the directors what they wanted, submitting the same performance every night in the theater. Then he realized a new audience was seeing him every show and that he was not following his own instincts.

That’s when his mantra, which he also uses before movie scenes and appearances on talk shows, occurred to him.

Explained Stewart: “I say to myself out loud, but very, very softly, ‘I don’t give a [BLEEP].’ James, it works! Because it frees you up because for so many years ... I was limited in what I was doing.”