Ryan Reynolds has recently spoken about his mental health struggles.
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, the 44-year-old actor opened up about his “lifelong” struggles with anxiety in a candid Instagram post on Wednesday.
Acknowledging that the month is almost over, the Deadpool star explained, “One of the reasons I’m posting this so late is I overschedule myself and important things slip. And one of the reasons I overschedule myself is my lifelong pal, anxiety.”
“I know I’m not alone and more importantly, to all those like me who overschedule, overthink, overwork, over-worry and over-everything, please know you’re not alone,” Reynolds continued. “We don’t talk enough about mental health and don’t do enough to destigmatize talking about it.”
He added, “But, as with this post, better later than never, I hope…”
The Canadian actor has been vocal about his mental health struggles in the past.
In 2016, he told GQ – an international monthly men’s magazine based in NYC – that he mentally collapsed while making the first Deadpool movie, in which he had worked for 11 years to get it made.
At the time, he said, “I felt like I was on some schooner in the middle of a white squall the whole time. It just never stopped. When it finally ended, I had a little bit of a nervous breakdown. I literally had the shakes.”
“I went to go see a doctor because I felt like I was suffering from a neurological problem or something,” he recalled. “And every doctor I saw said, ‘You have anxiety.’”
Reynolds also said that the pressure of translating the beloved Marvel character well onscreen was “hard” on his “nervous system.”
He said, “And I was banging the loudest drum for Deadpool. I wasn’t just trying to open it; I was trying to make a cultural phenomenon.”
In 2018, Reynolds said he especially struggled with anxiety during the early days of his career.
At the time, he told The New York Times that his early 20s was a “real unhinged phase.” He also said that he had to self-medicate to overcome his anxiety during that period.
The Green Lantern start said, “I have anxiety. I’ve always had anxiety. 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.” The article was published on PEOPLE.
