Similar to many, Ryan Reynolds has detailed his ongoing struggle with mental well-being. “I have anxiety, I have always had anxiety,” he detailed in an interview with The New York Times. “Both in the lighthearted ‘I’m anxious about this’ kind of thing, and I’ve been to the depths of the darker end of the spectrum, which is not fun.” His high-profile career has not eased this struggle. “When there’s built-in expectation, your brain always processes that as danger,” he told the outlet. His humor, he confessed, was a self-defense mechanism to help him cope. As soon as he brings out his witty Hollywood persona, the anxiety abates.
As a child, he found that busying himself with domestic chores helped to maintain some calm around the family home when his father was around. “I became this young skin-covered micro manager,” he said. “When you stress out kids, there’s a weird paradox that happens because they’re suddenly taking on things that aren’t theirs to take on.”
But it’s his own children that have inspired him to take his mental health public. In an interview with ET, Reynolds shared how his three daughters encouraged him to talk openly about his struggles with anxiety. “Part of my job as a parent is to model behaviors and model what it’s like to be sad and model what it’s like to be anxious, or angry,” he explained. “… There’s space for all these things.”
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.