Oliver Hudson

Transcript

Interviewer:

What is it like to be so loved and adored by the world?

Oliver Hudson:

Well, if we're talking about mental health, it's very good for my mental health. We're talking about issues that actually have great importance to the future generations.

There's a part of me that is definitely still the little boy who's seeking acceptance one way or another, especially growing up in the family that I grew up in. When you are comparing yourself, which is one of the worst things you can do, it's easy to go into that black sheep place. That's the Cliff Notes into my psychology.

And then of course Kurt came into my life and made me the man that I am. I met Kurt before my mom did. He played in the softball game and I was sitting up in the stands with my glove all sad and insecure and afraid of the world. And then he said, "You wanna have a catch?". So I had a catch with my stepfather who wasn't, I, didn't even know my mother yet and then he met my mom and then sort of the rest is history.

You go through your life and and and then you start to hit these sort of um, these roadblocks. I was 24 years old and I thought my heart exploded. It went boom and I was like, boom. I went down to a knee, not understanding what it was. And then only later did I understand it was a panic attack. And I've not felt one of those before nor understood what it was and I thought that was the end of it, but it wasn't.

My anxiety, this is just a part of who I am. I've learned how to deal with it. I understand the feelings now. They're no no longer scary to me and I was never afraid to talk about it. I'd never put a stigma on it, you know. I would go straight up and be like, “I am crazy anxious right now.” And then what happens is you learn that so many other people have the same experience where it's like, “Oh my god, I have that too.”

When you don't know what's happening, you don't know how to ask for help, you feel like you're crazy. You feel like you're the only one in the world who's feeling these things, which is couldn't be further from the truth. It's easy to ask for help when you break a leg.

You don't have to ask. The Kids Mental Health Foundation. I love what this organization is doing because we're taking the stigma away. Being able to go to someone, an adult, your parent, someone who you trust and say, "I need help." So then these kids can speak to it. I think it's empowering.

Kids' mental health starts with us.