His quick wit and effortless charm on screen might make you think otherwise, but the beloved Deadpool star, Ryan Reynolds has been suffering from anxiety for a long time now.
![](https://wp.scoopwhoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5aed5cb4fb7785584d159d91_64f36c15-fcb4-4e26-a101-c183e4cf3578.jpg)
And though the condition plagues him day in and day out, in the public eye, he turns to his alter-ego Deadpool to simmer it down.
Ryan tells the New York Times:
When the curtain opens, I turn on this knucklehead, and he kind of takes over and goes away again once I walk off set.
He also uses the meditation app, Headspace to calm down.
![](https://wp.scoopwhoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5aed5cb4fb7785584d159d91_362b0fe8-ac42-43fb-a240-60ee840f1a9e.jpg)
In the same interview, Ryan speaks about “being wracked by dread and nausea before every talk-show appearance. He “becomes quite convinced he might die.”
![](https://wp.scoopwhoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5aed5cb4fb7785584d159d91_ebbb83b1-f5f7-4535-a3d2-cec6f93e8144.jpg)
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.
![](https://wp.scoopwhoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5aed5cb4fb7785584d159d91_cf59db46-bcf3-4d61-aede-8761c30c5a73.jpg)
His battle with anxiety began from an early age. He reveals that his father’s behavior might have had something to do with it. He tells Variety:
Our father was tough. 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.
![](https://wp.scoopwhoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5aed5cb4fb7785584d159d91_b9d0662c-13af-4620-bd92-9c103f5719b0.jpg)
Even in his early 20s, his nervousness settled deep within and he took some drastic steps to end it. The actor admits to self-medicating but soon stopped after a few friends died of overdoses.
I was partying and just trying to make myself vanish in some way.
![](https://wp.scoopwhoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5aed5cb4fb7785584d159d91_d7db5597-dc70-4c93-b1e7-d35ecc0eda5f.jpg)
He also confessed that getting the role of Deadpool and the expectations that followed were “eating him alive”.
When there’s built-in expectation, your brain always processes that as danger.
![](https://wp.scoopwhoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5aed5cb4fb7785584d159d91_1a65204f-a36e-44c4-a35c-1c6997eebf4b.jpg)
He spoke to Variety and said that it was his wife, Blake Lively, that helped him ease his stress.
![](https://wp.scoopwhoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5aed5cb4fb7785584d159d91_75838e5e-f1a5-4b25-978c-a7a83c7386bf.jpg)
Hang-in there, Ryan ‘Deadpool’ Reynolds.
Feature image sourced from here.