The Show Must Go On! (Unless, of Course, You Need a Mental Health Break)
A slew of actors, pop stars and athletes have been taking ”mental health“ time-outs. Is this a good thing? Or do some need to just suck it up?
by Benjamin Svetkey

hwww.thewrap.com/mental-health-breaks-hollywood/

Excerpts:

It used to have a different euphemism. If a star needed a break from a project because of a drinking problem or an eating disorder or just an old-fashioned psychological meltdown, a press agent would release a statement blaming the sudden hiatus on “exhaustion.”

As PR baloney goes, it was a gorgeous lie, suggesting that the actor or actress in question was the victim of too crushing a work ethic and simply needed a breather from their own relentless perfectionism. Chef’s kiss to whoever came up with it.

Today, though, performers are apparently inexhaustible. They still unexpectedly bolt from the public stage — in fact, in recent months a shocking number of them have been dashing off for unscheduled respites — but nowadays that vanishing act goes by a different name. It’s called a “mental health” break.

Most recently, Jonah Hill announced that, for mental health reasons, he would not be doing media appearances to promote any of his upcoming projects, including his new Netflix rom-com “You People”.

“I have spent nearly 20 years experiencing anxiety attacks, which are exacerbated by media appearances and public facing events,” Hill wrote in an Aug. 17 open letter explaining his time-out....“I usually cringe at letters or statements like this,” Hill went on. “But I understand that I am of the privileged few who can afford to take time off. I won’t lose my job while working on my anxiety.”

A few weeks before Hill’s open letter, pop singer Shawn Mendes announced he was canceling his 40-plus city concert tour mid-run, telling fans he needed to tend to his mental health. “I started this tour excited to finally get back to playing live after a long break due to the pandemic,” he wrote in a statement. “But the reality is I was not at all ready for how difficult touring would be after this time away.”

Meanwhile, “Spider-Man” star Tom Holland announced he’s taking a break from social media for “mental health” reasons while actor Jordan Elsass quit his role as Clark Kent’s son on The CW’s “Superman & Lois” after posting on Instagram in June that he’d been struggling “with a number of things all pretty much revolving around mental health and well-being.”

Athletes are also succumbing to the siren call of the off switch. Tennis champ Naomi Osaka has been open about her “long bouts of depression” since winning the U.S. Open in 2018 and withdrew from last year’s French Open citing the pressure of both the competition and post-match press conferences. At last year’s Olympics, U.S. gymnast Simone Biles drew a lot of sympathy — and criticism — when she withdrew from the competition saying that her mental health took precedence. And boxer Adrien Broner just pulled out of his upcoming junior welterweight bout against Omar Figueroa Jr., telling fans that “mental health is real.”

Still, what happened to that showbiz adage “The show must go on”?

Lady Gaga was once so sick during a concert, she vomited on stage — four times! — and she kept on singing. Daniel Craig broke a leg while filming the 2015 James Bond film “Spectre” and continued shooting for the remaining nine months of production. Tom Cruise shot part of “Mission Impossible 6” with a broken ankle. Natalie Portman shot parts of “Black Swan” with a dislocated rib. The late Philip Seymour Hoffman did some of his finest acting — his scenes as Lester Bangs in Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” — while battling a flu and a 102-degree fever. Lord knows what sort of mental health day that tortured genius was having at the time.

Maybe it’s generational. Many older entertainers seem compulsively determined to get the job done no matter what the physical or psychological toll. Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Heath Ledger — there has always been a bit of madness to some actors’ extreme Method. That insane level of actorly commitment — remember when Daniel Day-Lewis spent six months alone in the wilderness preparing for “The Last of the Mohicans”? — may not be even the slightest bit beneficial to anyone’s mental health, but it helped produce some unforgettable performances.

The mental health breaks that young performers have been taking lately may also be a hangover from the pandemic, Hollywood’s version of the Great Resignation. Like pretty much everybody in every occupation, a lot of stars appear to be second-guessing their life choices and how they’ve been balancing their priorities.

The way I see it, and briefly putting. I have noticed over the years celebs come from nowhere and are instant stars, especially reality television shows, having no real proper time to prepare themselves for stardom, and collapse under the pressure of being well known.

I do get that there is a lot of pressure when you are in the spotlight. Everyone and his brother is telling you that you need to do this, that or the other thing-people you know, people you don't know. It doesn't matter because you will probably disappoint SOMEONE. Sometimes people just can't take the pressure and I get that. I also understand about mental heath and panic attacks. (I suffer from them, too.) But, they don't HAVE to be in the spotlight. They chose to be there.

I think there is a difference between an athlete pulling out of a competition because they feel that they can't preform at their best for whatever reason and someone who bolts from a stage because of...well, if the place was on fire I could understand that. I guess they expected that their fans paid money to watch a diva in action.

I think some of these younger folks want to be divas and have people cater to their every whim. If they run off the stage on a regular basis, I think they are going to learn that no one is going to pay to watch that if they know that might happen.

Also, if they disappear too many times or too long, the public has short memories and the powers that be will just hire the next one in the queue-which there is a VERY long line.


Cat

The way I see it, and briefly putting. I have noticed over the years celebs come from nowhere and are instant stars, especially reality television shows, having no real proper time to prepare themselves for stardom, and collapse under the pressure of being well known.



I do get that there is a lot of pressure when you are in the spotlight. Everyone and his brother is telling you that you need to do this, that or the other thing-people you know, people you don't know. It doesn't matter because you will probably disappoint SOMEONE. Sometimes people just can't take the pressure and I get that. I also understand about mental heath and panic attacks. (I suffer from them, too.) But, they don't HAVE to be in the spotlight. They chose to be there.

I think there is a difference between an athlete pulling out of a competition because they feel that they can't preform at their best for whatever reason and someone who bolts from a stage because of...well, if the place was on fire I could understand that. I guess they expected that their fans paid money to watch a diva in action.

I think some of these younger folks want to be divas and have people cater to their every whim. If they run off the stage on a regular basis, I think they are going to learn that no one is going to pay to watch that if they know that might happen.

Also, if they disappear too many times or too long, the public has short memories and the powers that be will just hire the next one in the queue-which there is a VERY long line.


Cat


I think that Philip may be right in the case of someone like Sean Mendes, who's only prior experience to fame ws making 10 second videos on the now-defunct Vine, from whence he was catapulted to stardom out of nowhere. There is something to be said for "paying one's dues" before getting famous. It grounds a person. But someone like Jonah Hill came up through the ranks and should be used to all this by now. It might be that he is just neurotic in general. But maybe he's using the "mental health break" routine as an excuse to get out of the drudgework of slogging around from city to city doing interviews and promoting his movie.

I love that the writer brought up the old "exhaustion" excuse. Isn't it funny that for years the public never questioned that fake excuse? I always figured it was a code for 1) going into rehab or 2) getting out of commitments. Nobody in real life gets so "exhausted" that they have to go into the hospital. People work long hours every day and raise children and do all kinds of things, but they don't collapse from "exhaustion". It's always something else at play.

I think that Philip may be right in the case of someone like Sean Mendes, who's only prior experience to fame ws making 10 second videos on the now-defunct Vine, from whence he was catapulted to stardom out of nowhere. There is something to be said for "paying one's dues" before getting famous. It grounds a person. But someone like Jonah Hill came up through the ranks and should be used to all this by now. It might be that he is just neurotic in general. But maybe he's using the "mental health break" routine as an excuse to get out of the drudgework of slogging around from city to city doing interviews and promoting his movie.

I love that the writer brought up the old "exhaustion" excuse. Isn't it funny that for years the public never questioned that fake excuse? I always figured it was a code for 1) going into rehab or 2) getting out of commitments. Nobody in real life gets so "exhausted" that they have to go into the hospital. People work long hours every day and raise children and do all kinds of things, but they don't collapse from "exhaustion". It's always something else at play.


" Exhaustion" happens. It happened to my mother and she ended up in the state hospital. We never called it "exhaustion." We called it "having a breakdown".


Cat

" Exhaustion" happens. It happened to my mother and she ended up in the state hospital. We never called it "exhaustion." We called it "having a breakdown".


Cat


Yes, but did the doctor call it that? Everyone uses the colloquial term "nervous breakdown", but technically there is no such condition.

The term "nervous breakdown" is sometimes used by people to describe a stressful situation in which they're temporarily unable to function normally in day-to-day life. It's commonly understood to occur when life's demands become physically and emotionally overwhelming. The term was frequently used in the past to cover a variety of mental disorders, but it's no longer used by mental health professionals today.

Nervous breakdown isn't a medical term, nor does it indicate a specific mental illness. But that doesn't mean it's a normal or a healthy response to stress. What some people call a nervous breakdown may indicate an underlying mental health problem that needs attention, such as depression or anxiety.
-www.mayoclinic.org

Yes, but did the doctor call it that? Everyone uses the colloquial term "nervous breakdown", but technically there is no such condition.

The term "nervous breakdown" is sometimes used by people to describe a stressful situation in which they're temporarily unable to function normally in day-to-day life. It's commonly understood to occur when life's demands become physically and emotionally overwhelming. The term was frequently used in the past to cover a variety of mental disorders, but it's no longer used by mental health professionals today.

Nervous breakdown isn't a medical term, nor does it indicate a specific mental illness. But that doesn't mean it's a normal or a healthy response to stress. What some people call a nervous breakdown may indicate an underlying mental health problem that needs attention, such as depression or anxiety.
-www.mayoclinic.org


Kinda like “excited delirium”.

Being a celebrity really takes it toll on people so they take a break away from the spotlight just like Richard Simmons did, I was watching a small documentary on him the other day and he took 7 years away from being around others.