Annie Murphy is opening up about the mental health struggles she experienced last year.
The former "Schitt's Creek" star, 34, told The Zoe Report she got so depressed during the Canadian sitcom's farewell tour in January 2020 that she could barely perform. "I think I have a big dose of my dad's Irish melancholy," the actor said.
When the coronavirus pandemic caused shooting of her edgy new AMC comedy "Kevin Can F--- Himself" to be delayed two months later, Murphy flew home to Canada to stay with her parents. Her mother immediately noticed Murphy's fragile state.
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"My mom was like, ‘You're crying 12 times a day hysterically, to the point where your teeth are chattering. That's not normal,’” recalled the Emmy winner.
A therapist diagnosed Murphy with depression. “I was like, ‘Damn it, I'm depressed,’” she said. “Ugh.”
“A lot of people are going to think that I sound like I'm playing a tiny violin for myself,” she said. “‘Oh, you're rich and famous. Why the f--- are you sad? You have nothing to be sad about. But I'm not going to post photos of me covered in my own snot, lying on the floor, unable to get up. I don't want people to have to see that."
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Looking back, Murphy says it's fortunate that the shooting of her new series was postponed. She now knows she needed that time to take care of herself.
"As excited as I was to get this huge part on ["Kevin"], I do not think if I had gone to work when I was supposed to go to work, I would have been able to do my job," she said.
In addition to regular sessions with her therapist, Murphy also got on antidepressants. Today, she's back at work and feeling a "sense of resilience."
“I do not cry every single day on the floor 12 times ... I am able to focus on other things in my life," she said.
"Now, honestly, if a friend's like, ‘I'm having a really hard time,’ I'm like, ‘Get on drugs. Get on drugs!’" added Murphy. "You don't have to be on drugs for the whole time, but they truly, truly saved my life in the sense that I was not a functional human being and I was able to be a functional human being.”
