The actor is speaking out about his lifelong battle in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month.
Ryan Reynolds is opening up about his longtime battle with anxiety. On Wednesday, the 44-year-old actor shared an Instagram post about his struggles in honor of Mental Health Awareness month.
"I overschedule myself and important things slip," he writes. "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."
"We don't talk enough about mental health and don't do enough to destigmatize talking about it," he continues. "But, as with this post, better late than never, I hope ..."
Back in 2017, Reynolds revealed to Variety that he struggled with anxiety, which he felt stemmed from his complicated relationship with his father growing up.
"I have three older brothers. Our father was tough," he shared. "He wasn't easy on anyone. And he wasn't easy on himself. I think the anxiety might have started there, trying to find ways to control others by trying to control myself. At the time, I never recognized that. I was just a twitchy kid."
He also shared that his anxiety definitely took a toll on him while working on his 2016 hit, Deadpool, and credited his wife, Blake Lively, for helping him through it.
"I never, ever slept," he recalled. "Or I was sleeping at a perfect right angle — just sitting straight, constantly working at the same time. ... Blake helped me through that. I'm lucky to have her around just to keep me sane."
Reynolds again talked about having anxiety in a 2018 interview with The New York Times. The father of three shared that he gets nauseous before every talk-show appearance despite his confident demeanor, and according to the outlet, even becomes convinced he might die.
"I have anxiety, I've always had anxiety," he said. "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."
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