To mark the end of Mental Health Awareness Month, Ryan Reynolds opened up about living with anxiety.
"One of the reasons I'm posting this so late is I over-schedule myself and important things slip," Ryan began in an Instagram post. "And one of the reasons I over-schedule myself is my lifelong pal, anxiety."
"I know I'm not alone and, more importantly, to all those like me who over-schedule, overthink, overwork, over-worry, and over-everything, please know you're not alone," he continued.
"We don't talk enough about mental health and don't do enough to de-stigmatize talking about it. But, as with this post, better late than never."
One of the people to be struck by Ryan's words was none other than Hugh Jackman:
Ryan previously told the New York Times in 2018, “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.”
Ryan’s anxiety got particularly bad during his twenties, and it led to him trying to cope via self-medication — but stopped when some of his friends died from overdoses. “I was partying and just trying to make myself vanish in some way,” he said.
Well, whether it's May or December, it's always a good time to talk about mental health.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness is 1-888-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.