Ryan Reynolds Sets The Right Example By Talking About Mental Health Early On To His Daughters

Ryan Reynolds said mental health was ‘important to talk about’ when discussing his own struggles of feeling ‘alone’ and ‘completely down’, in a new interview.

Ryan Reynolds, 44, opens and gets candid about the importance of mental health and being a “role model” for his daughters.

What Did Ryan Say?

The actor talked about being concerned and how he thinks most people need to have a conversation about the problems people are facing, in a new interview with ET on Saturday.

“Part of it is that I have three daughters at home and part of my job as a parent is to model behaviors and model what it’s like to be sad and model what it’s like to be anxious, or angry,” the father of James, 6, Inez, 4, and Betty, 1, told the outlet while promoting his new movie The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.

“That there’s space for all these things,” he added. “The home that I grew in, that wasn’t modeled for me really. And that’s not to say that my parents were neglectful, but they come from a different generation.”

“Part of that is racism and intimate conversations [mental health],” he continued.

“I know that when I feel really down, it’s usually because I feel so alone. So I think that when people talk about it, I don’t dwell on it or complain about it, but I think it’s important to talk about it. And when you talk about it, it liberates other people. ”

Ryan’s Views On Talking About Mental Health

He also said that when he spoke, he hoped it would help others who were struggling with their mental health.

Other people feel like, ‘Oh, he’s feeling that and so am I.’ And even though we might be in two completely different fields or we might have two completely different lives, it connects us in a way,” he explained. “A lot of it is just wanting to model certain things for my own kids and model things for anyone who might need to hear it.”

Ryan’s partner, Salma Hayek, 54, who was also present at the interview, added her thoughts with concern.

“A lot of people who are very smart suffer from anxiety,” she said. “If you are too young or have not achieved a certain amount of success, it can make you feel that something is wrong with you and you are not like others. It’s part of having an easily influenced mind. “

“It’s hard to sometimes turn one’s brain off and that’s a challenge for some people,” Ryan chimed in.

Family

Ryan and his wife Blake Lively, 33, have been married since 2012 and are often secretive about their three daughters.

Other than being photographed during casual outings, they tend to keep them out of the spotlight but that doesn’t stop them from gushing over them.

“I love being a girl dad,” Ryan told Access Hollywood in November 2020. “I have three daughters, which I never in a million years would’ve imagined.”