In recent years, the importance of mental health – and particularly, struggles associated with anxiety and depression – has become the topic of widespread conversation. These struggles aren’t just affecting us mere mortals either, they also impact the lives of high profile celebrities. Just take it from Chris Evans, who has revealed his anxiety almost lost him his lead role in Captain America.
In a recent interview on the Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, Evans said he started dealing with anxiety when Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was released in 2007. Unfortunately, Evans’ struggles continued when he started having “mini panic attacks on set” when he was filming the 2010 film Puncture.
“I really started to think, ‘I’m not sure if I’m feeling as healthy as I should be feeling,’” he explained.
Things only got worse for Evans when he was offered the chance to play Captain America. Fearful of what the increase in fame would do to his already-present anxiety, he initially said no, acknowledging that “my suffering would be my own.”
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In a 2019 interview with Men’s Health, Evans said, “[Captain America] was a big commitment. If the movie hits, your life noticeably changes. If someone in your family is in the hospital, and you’re going in and out and people are taking pictures of you and you complain, it’s too bad. You made this bed, sleep in it.”
“Maybe the thing you’re most scared of is actually the thing you should do,” he added.
Luckily, Kevin Feige and the team at Marvel simply wouldn’t take no for an answer and actually offered Evans the role outright – no audition or test. The actor consulted “an agent, therapist, and trusted friends and family,” who insisted he think twice about declining the role, and pushed him not to base his decision on fear.
“It was the best decision I’ve ever made, and I really owe that to Kevin Feige for being persistent and helping me avoid making a giant mistake,” he said. “To be honest, all the things that I was fearing never really came to fruition.”
It also helped that Evans had new co-stars who could closely relate to his struggles. “It was nice having Chris Hemsworth around because he was going through it, too.”
“Hemsworth and I were very new and we also had the stand-alones and so I think we shared in our anxiety, and at least that made it a little bit more comforting,” he added.
The fact that Evans is so open and honest about his struggles with anxiety is inspiring to other people going through the same thing. It’s so important we keep this conversation going and reach out to the people in our support system for help.
If you, or anyone you know is experiencing mental health struggles, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue for support.
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