Ryan Reynolds opened up about how he struggles with taking care of his mental health.
When asked how he maintains his mental equilibrium, the Deadpool star, 46, told Page Six on Monday, October 9, that he’s “not always great [at it],” adding that he finds himself “spinning out of control” at times.
Although Reynolds has trouble finding a balance, he revealed that he does his “own little rituals” to help him “stay grounded.”
“I tend to overbook myself when I’m spiraling that way,” he shared. “I’m sort of aware of that stuff and I manage it as well as you can.”
The actor has previously opened up about his struggles with mental health, telling CBS’ Sunday Morning in 2022 that he’s suffered from anxiety his “whole life.”
“I feel like I have two parts of my personality, that one takes over when that happens,” he revealed at the time.
Reynolds recalled feeling especially nervous before an appearance on Late Night With David Letterman, on which he appeared several times before the host signed off in 2015.
“I remember I’d be standing backstage before the curtain would open, and I would think to myself, ‘I’m gonna die. I’m literally gonna die here. The curtain’s gonna open up and I’m just gonna be, I’m just gonna be a symphony of vomit,’ just, like, something horrible’s going to happen,” he explained in the CBS interview.
Once Reynolds steps into the spotlight, however, everything shifts.
“As soon as that curtain opens — and this happens in my work a lot too — it’s like this little guy takes over,” the Just Friends star recalled. “And he’s like, ‘I got this. You’re cool.’ I feel, like, my heart rate drops, and my breathing calms, and I just sort of go out and I’m this different person. And I leave that interview going, ‘God, I’d love to be that guy!’”
In June 2021, the actor — who shares daughters James, 8, Inez, 7, Betty 4, and another child born in February with Blake Lively — revealed that his children helped him open up about his mental health for the first time.
“Part of it is that I have three daughters at home and 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. That there’s space for all these things,” Reynolds told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “Part of that is to destigmatize things and create a conversation around [mental health]. I know that when I felt at the absolute bottom, it’s usually because I felt like I was alone in something I was feeling. So I think when people talk about it, it kind of sets other people free.”
