Zachary Levi.Photo: Rich Polk/Getty
Zachary Leviis getting candid about hismental health.
Before the release of his upcoming memoirRadical Love: Learning to Accept Yourself and Others, the 41-year-old actor will appear on Tuesday’s episode of Elizabeth Vargas’Heart of the Matterpodcast, opening up about his childhood trauma, lifelong battle with depression and “complete mental breakdown” as an adult.
“I’ve struggled with this stuff most of my life. I didn’t realize that I was struggling with these things until I was 37, about five years ago and I had a complete mental breakdown,” Levi says in the episode, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.
He goes on to share details about his childhood, including having “a mother who was a borderline personality” and a stepfather who “was a perfectionist on the highest of levels.”
Levi says he turned to “sex,” “drugs” and “booze,” among other things, but notes, “The irony is that booze can give you this temporary relief, but then the next day amplifies that anxiety tenfold. So, then you’re running back to get more and it just becomes this vicious cycle.”
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Zachary Levi.VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty
Later in the interview, perTHR, Levi talks about how he had a panic attack and checked into an emergency room due to suicidal thoughts, recalling, “I was having very active thoughts of ending my life.”
“It wasn’t the first time I had had them. I had been in dark places in my life before, but I guess in those moments I had people around me,” he says, speaking of feeling like he “didn’t have a support structure” after he relocated to Austin, Texas.
Eventually, theShazam!Fury of the Godsstar spent three weeks in what he describes as “intensive life-changing, life-saving therapy.
And today, he practices “prayer and meditation” for mental health, explaining that sometimes the two are “synonymous.”
“I think one of the most important things, at least for me, is taking my thoughts captive,” says the actor. “Our minds are so powerful, but they are so easily, so easily hijacked if we don’t really go, ‘Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I’m doing it again. I’m starting to speak ill of myself again. I’m starting to be harsh or critical of myself. I’m starting to judge where I’m at in my life.’ "
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In it, theChuckactor will open up about his “childhood trauma” and mental-health struggles, and give guidance so others can work towards “mental wellness,” according to a March press release.
“My hope in sharing my story is that people who have experienced similar traumas in their own lives feel seen, heard, and loved; and know they are not alone in the ongoing battles they fight within their own hearts and minds,” Levi previouslytold PEOPLE in a statement.
“There is no magic cure for these things, as much as I wish there was one,” he continued. “It is a journey full of ups and downs, victories and challenges, but most importantly toward loving and valuing yourself and others as we are intended: entirely and unconditionally.”
Radical Love: Learning to Accept Yourself and Othersis available for preorder now onamazon.com.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go tosuicidepreventionlifeline.org.
source: people.com
