Alan Cumming has confessed that he was ‘feeling suicidal’ on the day that he auditioned for the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye.
The 56-year-old actor opened up about his struggles with mental health in an interview with CBS Mornings on Tuesday (October 26) ahead of the release of his new memoir Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life.
He described that day as one of the “worst days of my life”, before admitting that “Hollywood saved him” when he secured the role of Boris Grishenko.
Alan said: “It was one of the worst days of my life actually. I felt really, really, really low. I just now think, ‘Oh you poor little thing, you could’ve said I am feeling suicidal today.’
(Image: KOBAL)
“That’s something I realised when I was writing, like, ‘oh my God, Hollywood saved me.’
“I have this sort of mantra, which is “cancel, continue.” When something bad happens I think, ‘okay that happened, we can’t change that, let’s move on.’”
His new memoir is a followup to 2014’s Not My Father’s Son, in which he revealed the “abuse” he suffered from his father.
(Image: Getty Images)
He said: “When I was 28, I suddenly remembered all this stuff from my childhood. It’s still with me, I still get triggered by things. And we all have baggage, we all have trauma.”
His candidness comes after Alan was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater drama school, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Accepting the award at a small ceremony, the Hollywood movie star said: ‘I feel very moved today on receiving this honorary doctorate.
(Image: Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)
“I came to study here 36 years ago and I felt like I belonged here from the word go. The spirit of this institution has made me the performer that I am today.
“Three years of training and developing technique is very special – the older I’ve got I realise how important this training has been and the confidence I gained here has stood me in such good stead.
“I really like that I went to college here in Glasgow – it allowed me to make mistakes, to learn and to have a laugh.”
Alan has won prestigious Tony and Olivier awards for his stage work and starred in TV shows Sex and the City, Frasier, The L Word and The Good Wife.
He has appeared in films including the James Bond adventure GoldenEye, Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and superhero smash, X2 among others.
For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
