Ryan Reynolds opens up about anxiety struggles: ‘I feel like I have two parts of my personality’

Actor recalled thinking he was ‘literally gonna die here’ before late night TV appearances

Ryan Reynolds has opened up about his struggles with anxiety, claiming that he sometimes feels as if he has “two parts of my personality”.

The 45-year-old Deadpool star explained that he has suffered from anxiety for his “whole life”.

Appearing on CBS’s Sunday Morning show this weekend (Sunday 27 February), Reynolds said: “I’ve had anxiety my whole life really. And you know, I feel like I have two parts of my personality, that one takes over when that happens.”

The actor recalled how his feelings of anxiety would intensify before appearances on the talk series Late Night With David Letterman.

“I remember I’d be standing backstage before the curtain would open,” he said. “And I would think to myself, ‘I’m gonna die. I’m literally gonna die here. The curtain’s gonna open and I’m just gonna be, I’m just gonna be a symphony of vomit,’ just, like, something horrible’s gonna happen!”

“But as soon as that curtain opens – and this happens in my work a lot too – it’s like this little guy takes over,” he continued.

Ryan Reynolds pictured in February 2022 (Getty Images)

“And he’s like, ‘I got this. You’re cool.’ I feel, like, my heart rate drop, and my breathing calm, and I just sort of go out and I’m this different person. And I leave that interview going, ‘God, I’d love to be that guy!’”

Reynolds has spoken out about suffering from anxiety before, telling WSJ Magazine last October that he lies “awake at night, wrapping and unwrapping every possible scenario”.