Jim Parsons Recalls Feeling "Miserable" Despite Big Bang Theory Success.
Jim Parsons is reflecting on his major breakthrough performance. The Big Bang Theory star explained why he was dissatisfied during the peak of his stardom on the show, despite his success as scientist Sheldon Cooper in the sitcom's 12 seasons.
"I look back now and realize that there were many ways, at some of the best moments of my life, I was miserable," Parsons revealed this on the All Out with Jon Dean podcast's July 13 episode. "I was not happy. I was stressed.”
"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," he added. "Maybe to a degree that was true. I don't know. I can’t say because that’s how I was."
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The 53-year-old actor was having internal difficulties even though his performance on The Big Bang Theory propelled him to stardom and brought him praise from critics and honors, including four Emmys.
Parsons, who appeared on The Big Bang Theory from 2007 to 2019, stated that he "wouldn't do that again" and not "for any amount of money" if granted the chance now.
"It was stressful and miserable at times," he acknowledged it.. "I made myself miserable."
The Hollywood celebrity acknowledged that his actions "translated" in part into a committed work ethic, but there was a more significant internal conflict at work.
"It was really just obsessive behavior basically," Podcast host Jon Dean was informed by Parsons. "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.”
As he remembered, "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."
Parsons also acknowledged that his actions had a detrimental effect on his personal life, saying, "I missed tons of life."
The Golden Globe winner, who has been married to Todd Spiewak since 2017, stated that he doesn't know how a young actor would manage to reconcile their personal and professional lives, but in the end, his own hardships shaped who he is currently.
"I can't go back," Parsons clarified. "I wouldn’t be where I am right now if I hadn’t had that time of life and that somewhat self-tortured nature of it was part of it."
The Titaníque actor is "changing my relationship to it," including how he thinks about people only knowing him for a character he hasn't portrayed "for seven years now." Despite describing his experience with celebrity as a "very odd psychological thing,"
"It’s evolving, and it gets better all the time," Parsons pointed out. "What I feel is better, what I feel is healthier. It's not something that probably anybody, but I was certainly not equipped to, looking back."
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