Kiefer Sutherland thinks fame is "harder" and comes with more pressure for women than men.

The 59-year-old actor-and-musician was first alerted to how "different" the experience of life in the public eye is for females when he was dating his Flatliners co-star Julia Roberts in the early 1990s and doesn't feel the scrutiny actresses face is "very healthy or fair".

He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "For the women it's harder. There's a lot more to maintain, which is grossly unfair.

"When I was with Julia Roberts I saw how she was treated on a day off. What she had to go through was so different than what I had to deal with. I certainly didn't need security. No one cared what I wore or how I looked.

"When we did Flatliners I was at that time more successful, but it didn't matter; there was a level of expectation from her that was very different."

"Had I not been playing a show here in Leeds, and a bunch of people knew where I was, I could walk up and down the street and not be bothered at all. But somehow the obsession over the women in our business is, well, I don't think it's very healthy or fair to them."

But Kiefer thinks the rise in technology has also changed the experience of being famous and expressed his frustation at people using their mobile phones to film him when he's out and about.

He said: "You know, I'm sure there's a bunch of people like me that would like to kill [whoever] put the camera in the telephone. It just changed everybody's life.

"Every once in a while someone used to ask you for an autograph.

"Now, it's just as easy to film somebody.

"It just makes you nervous. It makes you uncomfortable, when you're trying to have lunch and someone's filming you from across the restaurant.

"I know they don't mean anything bad by it, but if you were to interview Richard Harris about his experience in the 1960s, and then you were to talk to a young actor successful in the past 10 years, their experiences would be dynamically different."

And the Stand By Me star gets just as frustrated when people film his concerts instead of enjoying the moment.

He said: "An audience of people watching your concert on their phone… you're missing it. You're missing what's actually happening in front of you."

Kiefer is best known for playing Jack Bauer in 24 and he admitted it has taken some time for the audiences at his concerts to see him as an artist in his own right, rather than as the counter-terrorism agent.

He said: "It's less of an issue now than it was 15 years ago, and I can also tell the difference when someone's come because they know the music, but I've also done shows where people are like, 'Why is he wearing that hat? It doesn't look like Jack Bauer…' Well, he's wearing the hat because he's trying to tell you he's not Jack Bauer.

"It's all kind of amusing. All you can really do is get up there and play the song and hope it moves them."