Shazam! Franchise star Zachary Levi opened up about his struggles with mental health and his battle with anxiety and depression that he has “wrestled” with for most of his life due to childhood trauma and self-doubt. in his carrer.
Shazam! star Zachary Levi reveals he had a complete mental breakdown due to “lifelong” struggle with depression and anxiety
According to The Hollywood Reporter, in a recent conversation on the Heart of the Matter podcast, the 41-year-old actor revealed that his journey to get to a place where he could fully practice self-love and acceptance has been difficult as he has faced to a lifelong battle with anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem due to being raised in a complicated and abusive home filled with high expectations.
the Throw The actor says he was unable to fully identify what his problems were until a dramatic downward spiral led to a mental breakdown at age 37, a situation so urgent that he sought treatment for three weeks after having suicidal thoughts. “I have struggled with these things for most of my life. I didn’t realize I was struggling with these things until I was 37, about five years ago and had a complete mental breakdown,” Levi explained before revealing that his struggles began in his youth growing up in a difficult home.
“Most of my life, I grew up in a home where my stepfather was a perfectionist at the highest levels, his bar was very high, he was impossible to reach, and then a mother who had a borderline personality. So, she didn’t have an impossibly high bar. She had an impossible goal because she kept moving. Anyone who spends time with borderline personalities, if I came home and my mom was in a good mood, I could say, ‘Hey, I didn’t do that well on this test in school,’ and she’d be like, ‘Oh, don’t worry. that’s why. There will be another test and we can work on that’, whatever it is, but if he was in a bad mood, it was the end of the world. I was an embarrassment to the family. I mean, there was a lot of vitriol, a lot of screaming.”
As he got older, Zachary Levi treated his problems with a combination of substances and vices. “I was running for so many other things, whether it was sex, drugs, alcohol, or things to distract myself from, to numb myself from the pain that I was running from for most of my life,” he detailed. “The irony is that alcohol may give you this temporary relief, but the next day it amplifies that anxiety tenfold. So, you’re running for more and it becomes a vicious cycle.” The actor also explained that his career influenced how he beat himself. “My career was at a place where I felt like even though I had accomplished so many things up to that point, I still was and to be honest, even now I still feel that way.”
“I feel like I’m a bit on the outside looking in. I’ve never really felt a part of whatever the cool kid group is,” she said, adding that those feelings go back to childhood as a “nerdy kid who was often bullied. “I think that led to my career in Hollywood, and it reaffirms the lies that you tell yourself when you don’t get certain jobs, you don’t get hired to go do that movie or that show with this level of director, producer, actor or whatever. Detailing the panic attacks that ultimately led him to seek treatment, Levi further shared that he moved to Austin and was having trouble doing routine activities like unpacking boxes and concentrating at a restaurant.
“I drove around for probably 10 minutes not knowing where to eat because I didn’t know the right place to eat instead of just saying, ‘Zach, just go get something to eat. No matter. It doesn’t matter if you go to that pizzeria or that Chinese restaurant or whatever. Just go get some food. If you’re hungry, go get some food,’” she continued. “I’m sitting in my truck, and vividly, I remember that I was holding the wheel and I was shaking from side to side, like I was almost trying to shake myself from what was going on, and I was just crying. . I’m just crying. I’m like, ‘God help me.’”
Later, he recounted how he was eventually admitted to the emergency room due to suicidal thoughts. “I was having very active thoughts of ending my life,” she revealed. “It wasn’t the first time I had them. I had been to dark places in my life before, but I guess at those times I had people around me. “Foolishly, I mean, I think I made the right decision to move to Austin. I don’t think I made it exactly the right way. I didn’t realize I was running from so much, but I moved.” here and I had no one, I had no support structure… So at this particular moment, I’m here in this wonderful city, but basically alone, and darkness surrounds me again.”
“The lies are being whispered in my ear and the failure that I felt was enough to say, ‘Zach, it looks like you’re not going to get out of this.'”
After this experience, Zachary noted that he followed a friend’s advice by seeking “life-changing and life-saving intensive therapy” in a psych ward for about a month. During the interview, he also talked about how he was affected by the suicides of Bourdain, Williams and Kate Spade. Of Williams, Levi said, “Robin, he was one of my heroes. His talent, his heart, the way he loved people, the way he loved homeless people, the way he cared for them, he was a really, truly, deeply empathetic person who really cared about others. human beings, and yet he was so tortured in his own mind. I think that’s part of why he felt so compelled to bring joy to the world. I felt very, very much like that.”
“When he died, ‘it really, really, really, really, really rocked me because I felt like if he can’t do it, I don’t know how I’m going to continue to navigate this life, unless I can somehow figure out how not to keep falling into these places of depression and anxiety.” Even as Levi worked his way through his issues, the actor shared that he still lives with them and can manage a healthy routine with a focus on good diet, exercise, and sleep habits.” Prayer and meditation are very important, which are also somewhat synonymous, I think, in a way. Sometimes my prayer is meditation. Sometimes I just stand there and let God take over what that moment is.”
“I’m not really saying anything, I’m just passing the time. I think one of the most important things, at least for me, is to take my thoughts captive. Our minds are so powerful, but they’re so easily hijacked if we don’t really say, ‘Oh wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I’m doing it again. I’m starting to badmouth myself again. I am starting to be harsh or critical of myself. I’m starting to judge where I am in my life.’”
Zachary Levi is best known for his roles on the NBC series. Throw and the disney movie Tangled up. In 2018, Levi appeared as Dr. Benjamin Ettenberg in the second season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She also played the title character in the superhero comedy feature film. Shazam!an entry in the DC Extended Universe franchise.
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