Ryan Reynolds Opens Up About His Father's Battle With Parkinson's Disease: 'A Profound Effect On the Psyche'
Ryan Reynolds is getting vulnerable about his father’s battle with Parkinson’s disease.
The 48-year-old actor attended the Acadia Pharmaceuticals’ panel for Parkinson’s Awareness Month in New York City on Friday (April 25). There, he opened up about witnessing his father James Chester experience the neurological disorder for two decades until his death in 2015.
“A man with four children, working class, dealing with a disease that is degenerative and something that will one day render him physically unable to take care of himself or others, that is going to have a profound effect on the psyche. That’s not easy. He was one of the many Parkinson’s patients experiencing these hallucinations and delusions, and it’s remarkable how you can layer cake a stigma,” Ryan told People.
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He continued, “He was a proud man, probably said the word Parkinson’s twice in his whole life. So he certainly wasn’t going to talk about some of the psychological effects it was having on him. And if there was treatment for that, if there was something available back then, I think his whole life would’ve improved. I think his sense of wellbeing would’ve been restored. His sense of reality would’ve been restored.”
The Deadpool & Wolverine star also reflected on how his father’s condition affected those around him.
“There is a real kind of caregiver fatigue, and there’s a kind of bag of rocks that you carry around with you where you’re the one that’s basically responsible for caring for this person, caring for yourself. It’s very hard being the person. My mom was that person. She was the primary caregiver for my father,” he explained.
“When you have somebody who’s very prideful like that, he’s not going to accept help from anyone else. So I feel for them as much as I do the patients. So when they reach out, I really make time for all of them, not just the one who’s dealing with the disease,” he added.
If you didn’t see, earlier this week, Ryan talked about a major career lesson he recently learned.