For The Sake Of His Mental Health, Jonah Hill Is Stepping Away From Publicly Promoting His Projects
While it seems like Jonah Hill was talking about his love of dick-shaped foods in Superbad just yesterday, it turns out that yesterday was actually the 15th anniversary of the film’s release. Since then, Jonah has had an eventful career, even earning Academy Award nominations for his performances in Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street (in which his lines also afforded him the opportunity to be Hollywood’s top fuck-worder). With success inevitably comes haters, though, and he’s had people discussing his weight and body ever since he became famous. Jonah has pivoted to directing as well, and now that he’s at a place in his career where he’s able to make the choice, he’s announced in an open letter that he’ll no longer be hitting the promotion stroll for his films because it’s had adverse effects on his anxiety and mental health, according to IndieWire.
Jonah recently directed a film called Stutz that deals with mental health and his experiences with his personal therapist, Phil Stutz. Jonah says that public-facing events have triggered his anxiety over his entire career, so in the spirit of the tools he’s gained to cope with it, he isn’t going to attend them anymore. via IndieWire:
The film “explores mental health in general” and will provide therapy tools for audiences to use. “Through this journey of self-discovery within the film, I have come to the understanding that I have spent nearly 20 years experiencing anxiety attacks, which are exacerbated by media appearances and public facing events,” Hill said in a statement, confirmed to IndieWire.
Hill additionally announced that while he will not be retiring, he will not be promoting “Stutz” or other upcoming projects, including the Netflix comedy “You People,” which he co-wrote with director Kenya Barris. Hill made his directorial debut in 2018 with the coming-of-age period piece “Mid-90s.”
Here’s Jonah’s open letter:
“I have finished directing my second film, a documentary about me and my therapist which explores mental health in general called ‘Stutz.’ The whole purpose of making this film is to give therapy and the tools I’ve learned in therapy to a wide audience for private use through an entertaining film.
“Through this journey of self-discovery within the film, I have come to the understanding that I have spent nearly 20 years experiencing anxiety attacks, which are exacerbated by media appearances and public-facing events.
“I am so grateful that the film will make its world premiere at a prestigious film festival this fall, and I can’t wait to share it with audiences around the world in the hope that it will help those struggling. However, you won’t see me out there promoting this film, or any of my upcoming films, while I take this important step to protect myself. If I made myself sicker by going out there and promoting it, I wouldn’t be acting true to myself or to the film.
“I usually cringe at letters or statements like this 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. With this letter and with ‘Stutz,’ I’m hoping to make it more normal for people to talk and act on this stuff. So they can take steps towards feeling better and so that the people in their lives might understand their issues more clearly.
“I hope the work will speak for itself and I’m grateful to my collaborators, my business partners and to all reading this for your understanding and support.”
Here’s a small sampling of the types of questions Jonah probably got sick of:
@808zaun It’s a shame since #JonahHill deserves better 💔 Follow if you want to see more videos like this! #JimmyKimmel #Actor #fyp #foryoupage #hollywood
And Page Six reports that within the same time frame as making the above statement, Jonah also deleted his Instagram–which was mostly just surfing pics. But, he even got shit for enjoying surfing, so he’d probably had enough of that, too.
The “Superbad” star deleted his Instagram account this week, but it’s unclear if he removed it before or after his candid letter discussing his nearly 20-year battle with anxiety attacks.
Hill’s Instagram mostly shared images of his surfer-bro lifestyle, accolades for his sister, Beanie Feldstein, as well as the occasional snap of his girlfriend, Sarah Brady; however, now that he’s shared his mental health struggles, he said he will no longer make media appearances.
There’s been a few instances over the years where Jonah hasn’t handled being in the public eye well–like the time he Alec Baldwinned a pap or when he didn’t kiss CNN sweetheart Don Lemon’s b-hole at an airport–so hopefully this step back will allow him to effectively manage both his mental health and his career. Jonah will be playing Jerry Garcia in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Grateful Dead biopic, so if sitting out press poses a problem, perhaps he can talk to fellow cranky-pants, Kanye West, about commissioning a hologram of himself to answer all of the inevitable deep questions about the beard and body he’ll have to sport for the role.
Pic: Instagram