Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds, who is well known for his good looks and quick wit, opened about his mental health and admitted that he struggles with the publicity part of fame. “I have anxiety, I’ve always had anxiety,” the 41-year old actor shared. “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.” Reynolds told that he grew up in an unstable environment because of his late father, who he referred to as “the stress dispensary in our house.” Consequently, Reynolds spent most of his childhood trying to avoid making his father angry. “I became this young skin-covered micromanager,” he said. “When you stress out kids, there’s a weird paradox that happens because they’re suddenly taking on things that aren’t theirs to take on.” He calls his early 20s his “real unhinged phase.” “I was partying and just trying to make myself vanish in some way,” he said. He would often wake up in the middle of the night paralyzed with anxiety and fear about his future. Reynolds further added that he is able to overcome his anxiety at work by channeling his character. “When the curtain opens, I turn on this knucklehead,” he says, “and he kind of takes over and goes away again once I walk off set.” “That’s that great self-defense mechanism,” he admits. “I figure if you’re going to jump off a cliff, you might as well fly.” But whenever he meets fans in real life, for instance, Reynolds says they are usually disappointed to find “this incredibly boring version of a guy who looked like their hero.” Published in Daily Times, May 7th 2018.