There was a different term. An agent would release a statement attributing the sudden stoppage to a star who needed to take a break from a project due to a drinking problem, an eating disorder, or a mental meltdown. “exhaustion.”
PR baloney says it was a stunning lie. It suggests that the actor/actress in question was too focused on their work and needed to take a break from their constant perfectionionism. Chef’s kiss to whoever came up with it.
Today’s performers, however, seem to be 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.
Jonah Hill has recently stated that he is not going to be appearing in media for any of his upcoming projects. This includes his Netflix romcom. “You People,”The film also stars Eddie Murphy and Nia Long as well as Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Duchovny and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. None of them will be available to promote it (except Murphy, who has been on a mental illness break since 1997). Cops pulled him over after he was caught with a transsexual hooker in the car.). Promoting a film is as important as acting in it.
Or, at least it used be.
“I have spent nearly 20 years experiencing anxiety attacks, which are exacerbated by media appearances and public facing events,”Hill explained his reasons for being absent in an August 17 open letter. Indeed, the actor, who last appeared in Adam McKay’s Oscar-nominated “Look Up,” is so stressed he won’t even be promoting “Stuzz,”The mental health documentary that he just finished filming with his therapist.
“I usually cringe at letters or statements like this,”Hill continued. “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 Assure his mental well-being. “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.”
Many athletes are falling prey to the temptation of the off switch. Naomi Osaka, tennis champion, is open about it. “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 her entry from the competitionHer mental health came first, she said. Adrien Broner, boxer against Omar Figueroa Jr. has withdrawn from his junior welterweight bout. He told fans that it was because of her mental health. “mental health is real.” (Figueroa, for one, wasn’t buying it, accusing Broner of using mental health as a “f—ing excuse.”)
Mental health is real, that’s for sure. It’s obviously a good thing that psychiatric conditions are being taken more seriously in the workplace, including on Hollywood soundstages and in boxing rings. And although it’s not my job — nor anybody’s — to police the veracity of a star’s mental health claims, Elsass, for one, is clearly going through something dark; in July he checked himself into a facility for a month-long stay. I have no idea what’s up with Jonah Hill or Tom Holland or any of the others, but if they say they’re in a bad place, who am I to argue?
But, what happened? “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 fell while filming James Bond 2015. “Spectre”He continued filming for the nine remaining months of production. Tom Cruise shot a portion of “Mission Impossible 6”Broken ankle. Natalie Portman filmed parts of “Black Swan”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. He is not sure what sort of mental illness that tortured genius was suffering from at the time.
Maybe it’s generational. Many entertainers over 50 seem to be compulsively determined not to let their physical and psychological health get in the way of getting the job done. 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 Daniel Day Lewis spending six months in the wilderness alone?Prepare 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.
They are very fortunate. Actually, I can relate to this. For example, right now, a part of me feels compelled by my job to complete this article with a clever, concise kicker that summarizes the entire article in a few catchy lines. But, you know what? But who needs stress?
