Jared Padalecki Reveals He Checked Into a Clinic for ‘Dramatic Suicidal Ideation’ During Supernatural Run
Two-thirds of the way through Supernatural‘s 15-year run, Jared Padalecki checked into a clinic as he struggled with suicidal ideation.
“It was 2015, I had a really low moment,” the TV vet shares in People.com‘s excerpt from the June 25 episode of Tommy DiDario’s I’ve Never Said This Before podcast. “I was letting my thoughts take over and kind of going to places of dramatic suicidal ideation.
“I called my wife [Genevieve, who was with Padalecki on the aforementioned podcast] and she said, ‘Get home,'” he continues. “And so, I got home, went to a clinic for a couple weeks and looked into it, and haven’t been suicidal since. Not for a moment.”
Padalecki, who in 2015 had already been in the business for 15 years (having started out on Gilmore Girls), said, “I needed a full reset” after putting on a happy face at auditions, red carpets and interviews. “I had done that for so long, trying to focus on what’s best for the person who’s talking to me as opposed to just being honest.”
Padalecki previously opened up about such struggles in a March 2015 interview with Variety, saying, “I, for a long time, have been passionate about people dealing with mental illness and struggling with depression, or addiction, or having suicidal thoughts…. And I, in the past, have had my own struggles of not [being] so happy with where I am in life.
“[During Supernatural] Season 3, we were shooting an episode, and I went back to my trailer to get changed and just kind of broke down,” he told Variety. “A doctor came to set and talked to me for about 30 or 45 minutes and said, ‘Jared, I think you’re clinically depressed. I think I should write you a note and we can shut down production for five days and then we can take it from there.” And it kind of hit me like a sack of bricks.”
At the time of that breakdown, a longtime, Vancouver-based friend of Padalecki’s had recently “lost his battle with depression,” he shared.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. Text MHA to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor from Crisis Text Line.
It’s great he got the help he needed. I wish Mental Health services was more broad in the US.
Agreed…it is so desperately needed!
Im glad for Jared but everyone reading should take note. You never know what a person is going through in their life.
Yup, and I remember reading long ago that “everyone is going through something.”
Glad he’s doing better and talking about it. Proof depression can always get you, even when you’re living a life others might envy. And that treatment often helps.
And that show was a LOT, not just all the press and events, but the schedule. TV fans complain sometimes nowadays wanting to go back to 22 episode seasons, but we should keep in mind just how grueling it is. Esp when you’re in almost every scene. (Not to mention how depressing the scripts were there in the middle of the show. I can’t imagine it helped, acting that stuff out every day when you’re already struggling.) I know he didn’t cite that stuff, but as someone who was watching the show in real time, it got grueling even to just tune into for an hour a week. Maybe filming didn’t factor into it for him at all, but I can think of other actors who were the lead or co lead on shows like this and were just worn down by it. Just something fans should keep in mind when we’re looking at shorter seasons vs longer on shows that aren’t exactly ensembles.
I’ve been through this for most of my life, and it’s heartening to see that he not only got the help he needed then, but was able to build supports into his life that he’s been able to weather problems ever since without falling back into that dark place. Thanks for continuing to speak out.