NEED TO KNOW
Jared Padalecki is opening up about the mental health struggles he’s faced during his decades as an actor — and how fans have accepted his willingness to share.
Earlier this year, Padalecki, 42, was joined by several of his Supernatural castmates at MegaCon Orlando, when the conversation turned to the show’s 20th anniversary (it debuted in September 2005).
“I can think back to the 20 years — with the strike and COVID and this and that — and there were a lot of sacrifices,” Padalecki said. “There’s been a lot that like, this sucks, and I don’t wanna wake up and I don’t wanna leave the house, I don’t wanna get out of bed and I don’t wanna go be with that person.”
He continued, “But in hindsight, I just feel so grateful [for the fans] because I was very public about some of the s— I was going through that I’ve been kind of not secret about but haven’t shared yet and I was met with such love and acceptance that it meant a lot to me.”
Virginia Chamlee
Padalecki went on to say how “grateful” he was to Supernatural’s fan base, adding that he’s enjoyed watching people get interested in the show in the years since it ended in 2020. “The more people that join, it’s like a rising tide that raises all boats,” he said.
In 2024, the actor revealed that he checked into a clinic in 2015 — during the run of Supernatural —while struggling with suicidal ideation.
“It was 2015, I had a really low moment,” he said on an episode of Tommy DiDario’s I’ve Never Said This Before podcast, alongside wife Genevieve Padalecki. “I was letting my thoughts take over and going to places of dramatic suicidal ideation. I called my wife and she said, ‘Get home.’”
“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,” he said, before adding that he needed “a full reset.”
“I had spent 15 years in this industry. You go to an audition or on a red carpet and they don’t want, ‘Jared, how are you doing today?’ ‘Oh today was rough, I didn’t sleep.’ They want, ‘Oh it’s great! Excited to be here!’ So 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,” he continued.
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Padalecki added that he never saw the struggles as something to be ashamed of. “I don’t wear it as a scarlet letter. It’s not like I’m shameful like, ‘Hey, I see a therapist, I’ve been to a clinic,’ ” he said. “I wear it proudly. I put it on my face and tell everybody. If you’re not in a situation where you need that degree of help then don’t seek it. I needed a surgeon — not literally — but I needed it and here I am.”
