Jim Parsons reveals sad reason he’d never return as Sheldon for Big Bang Theory
Topics: Celebrity, TV And Film, Entertainment, Mental Health
Jen Thomas
Featured Image Credit: Manoli Figetakis/FilmMagic
Topics: Celebrity, TV And Film, Entertainment, Mental Health
Jim Parsons starred as Sheldon Cooper in the Big Bang Theory for 12 years, but he doesn't see a return any time soon.
Speaking on the YouTube podcast All Out with Jon Dean, Parsons opened up about the role that made him a household name.
Parsons, 53, is currently starring on Broadway in the musical, Titanique, but was in a reflective mood about how far he's come since playing the iconic character of Sheldon.
He discussed the impact on his mental health that such a high profile role had on him, thanks to the success of the smash-hit sitcom, which still finds new fans even now.
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“I look back now and realize that there were many ways, at some of the best moments of my life, I was miserable,” Parsons confessed to the host.
“I was not happy. I was stressed," he added.
He confessed he was 'overworking' during his time on the show, and would never want to go back to living his life like that.
“I felt that there was so many plates I was supposed to be keeping in the air and that the success and the good things of life that were happening were only due to this overworking, discipline and whatever,” he says. “Maybe to a degree that was true. I don’t know. I can’t say because that’s how I was.”
Despite the show ending seven years ago, Parsons says the public's perception of him as Sheldon 'is not going away' due to reruns and repeats.
He said his relationship with the character is 'evolving.'
“It gets better all the time,” he says. “What I feel is better, what I feel is healthier.”
"It’s not something that I think probably anybody - but I was certainly not - is equipped for, looking back," he reflected.
He said he wouldn't go back to that intense lifestyle for 'any amount of money', explaining he missed out on 'tons of life'.
“I wouldn’t do that again and for any amount of money... it was stressful and miserable at times. I made myself miserable,” he shared.
“It translated in part into a work ethic, but it was really just obsessive behaviour basically," he admitted.
"Yes, I was disciplined. Yes, I had a good work ethic, but a lot of it was because it was kind of OCD in nature…I had a list of things basically in my head that I had to get done in order to be comfortable and know that I could do my job right, which I don’t think was true.”
He added: “I wouldn’t be where I am right now if I hadn’t have had that time of life, and the somewhat self-tortured nature of it was part of it.”
Asked how young actors could balance things today, Parsons confessed “I don’t honestly know.”
He said the fame that comes with playing such a high profile character is a 'very odd psychological thing.'
“This is not a complaint. This is just me having the grace to myself to admit it and look at it cleanly, or as clearly as I can,” he said.
“It is a weird feeling to know people know you when you walk into a room, but you don’t know them,” he added.