When Chris Evans Almost Rejected Captain America Due To Anxiety & Recalled Chris Hemsworth & Robert Downey Jr Helped Him, “My Suffering Would Be My Own”
Chris Evans once shared that his anxiety made him drop Marvel movies. Here’s how RDJ and Chris Hemsworth helped him.
When Chris Evans Got Real About His Anxiety Issues & Shared How Chris Hemsworth & Robert Downey Jr Helped Him Overcome It (Picture Credit: IMDB)
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There is something about Hollywood celebrities talking about the importance of good mental health that makes every fan cheer for them louder. Chris Evans is one such star who has candidly talked about mental health issues. He even revealed how Marvel and his co-stars, including Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr, helped him with his anxiety. Scroll on to learn more.
Chris appeared during a podcast and revealed that after losing a series of movies and getting dumped by a woman, he faced severe anxiety attacks that got worse during the shooting of Puncture in 2010.
He said during the Awards Chatter podcast, “It was the first time I started having mini panic attacks on set. I really started to think, I’m not sure if this (acting) is the right thing for me, I’m not sure if I’m feeling as healthy as I should be feeling.” Around this time, he was offered Captain America role by Marvel, which he was hesitant to accept. He spoke to Robert Downey Jr, who advised him to do what he feared the most.
During an interview with Jimmy Kimmel Live, Robert Downey Jr talked about Chris Evans’ anxiety and said, “I’ve also seen him, over the last 10 years, go from being someone who had laughably real social anxiety to someone who has grown more and more comfortable in their own skin.” Not just him his other co-star, Chris Hemsworth, also supported the actor throughout his phase.
During the podcast, Chris said, “It was nice having Chris Hemsworth around because he was going through it, too. I mean, at the time, Downey is Downey and Scarlett is Scarlett [Johansson]. And [Mark] Ruffalo and [Jeremy] Renner, at the time, were crushing it, too. Hemsworth and I were very new, and we also had the stand-alone, and so I think we shared in our anxiety, and at least that made it a little bit more comforting.”
By the end, The Captain America actor said that signing Marvel movies was one of the best decisions of his life. “It was the best decision I’ve ever made, and I really owe that to [Marvel chief] Kevin Feige for being persistent and helping me avoid making a giant mistake. To be honest, all the things that I was fearing never really came to fruition.”
