Harrison Ford is getting vulnerable about mental health.
During Thursday’s installment of the Awards Chatter podcast, the Star Wars legend opened up about experiencing depression as a student at Ripon College in Wisconsin in the 1960s, where he would “rarely venture out” of his dorm room:
“I would get up out of my single bed, go to a phone, order a pizza, go back and lie down in bed until the pizza came. I would eat the pizza, throw the wrappers in the corner, go back to sleep.”
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The Indiana Jones star noted that on the “rare” occasions he’d actually attempt to make it to class, he’d only be able to “touch the door on the outside of the building, and turn around and walk back.” He reflected:
“I was more than depressed. I think I was ill. I was socially ill, psychologically not well.”
Poor young Harrison!
The now-83-year-old revealed he “never found a community” at the college — that is until stumbled his way into a drama class in an attempt to boost his plunging GPA. And going into it thinking he’d just be analyzing plays, it was quite the surprise when he found out a requirement was also acting in them — his first time EVER performing. But there, he forged unlikely friendships:
“And I was surprised that the people that I had considered to be fellow geeks and misfits were, in fact, some of the most interesting people I knew. They were doing something that I hadn’t really understood, and they were telling stories about life and life, and those stories about life were informative and some of them were exceptional in their capacity to understand human behavior.”
Thanks to the drama class, Harrison finally felt a sense of belonging:
“I think I simply found my place amongst storytellers. It was the story that gave me a focus and an opportunity to think about something and be part of it with a group of people.”
He added:
“It really changed my world, changed my life.”
Thank goodness!
Elsewhere in his chat, the Shrinking actor, who studied philosophy, revealed he was expelled for plagiarism just FOUR days before graduation:
“I had not been strict enough in controlling whose words I was using in my senior thesis. And I was accused of and admitted that there was plagiarism.”
Listen to more (below):
We’re so glad Harrison finally found a community for the sake of his mental health! Imagine just how different Hollywood would be if he hadn’t!
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For resources on mental health, visit https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help
[Images via MEGA/WENN]
