Emma Stone felt trapped by anxiety
Emma Stone’s anxiety was so bad that she "did not think she would ever be able to move away from home".
The ‘La La Land’ star has been vocal about her struggle with anxiety and admits that as a kid, she worried it would keep her living with her parents for the rest of her life.
In a video for the new Child Mind Institute campaign, she said: "It has always been something that I’ve lived with and it flares up in big ways at different times in my life. Sometimes while it’s happening, like while I’m in a phase of big turmoil, it feels like it’s never gonna end – but it does. I truly, as a kid, did not think I would ever be able to move away from home or be apart from people I had separation anxiety with."
Meanwhile, the 28-year-old actress previously revealed she was so anxious as a child that she was "convinced" her house was burning down.
She said: "My brain, naturally zooming 30 steps ahead to the worst-case scenario. When I was about seven, I was convinced the house was burning down. I could sense it. Not a hallucination, just a tightening in my chest, feeling I couldn’t breathe, like the world was going to end. There were some flare-ups like that, but my anxiety was constant.
"I would ask my mom a hundred times how the day was gonna lay out. What time was she gonna drop me off? Where was she gonna be? What would happen at lunch? Feeling nauseous. At a certain point, I couldn’t go to friends’ houses anymore – I could barely get out the door to school."
However, acting has helped somewhat in reducing Emma’s anxious feelings.
She added: "I wrote this book called I Am Bigger Than My Anxiety that I still have: I drew a little green monster on my shoulder that speaks to me in my ear and tells me all these things that aren’t true. And every time I listen to it, it grows bigger. If I listen to it enough, it crushes me.
"But if I turn my head and keep doing what I’m doing – let it speak to me, but don’t give it the credit it needs – then it shrinks down and fades away. I started acting at this youth theatre, doing improv and sketch comedy. You have to be present in improv, and that’s the antithesis of anxiety."
