Kim Basinger talks about fighting agoraphobia.
Appearing on Wednesday’s episode red table talk With Ireland Baldwin’s daughter, Bessinger shared her childhood anxieties and how she ended up dealing with them in her adult life.
The actress said that as a child, she watched her mother struggle with anxiety and was always afraid that something would happen to her. “It affected me so much that I felt like I had to go home with my mom to save her,” he said, adding that she even lied at school and made up an excuse to send her home. After the school’s faculty began to think something “wasn’t right” with Bessinger, he said they forced him to take tests, which showed he was anxious.
As he grew older, Basinger developed agoraphobia, which the Mayo Clinic defines as “a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and avoid places or situations that can cause panic, helplessness, or discomfort.”
Basinger recalled that one day he was at a health food store. “It was a store in my neighborhood. He took the third path. My basket was almost full and something was so overwhelming I couldn’t breathe anymore. So I left the stroller and went to my car, and that was the last time I had ridden it in almost six or seven months.
Basinger said the case eventually got to the point where he “wouldn’t leave the house”, “didn’t go to dinner” and “couldn’t even have people over for dinner” at home. “We tried and it’s really horrible to feel like he’s gained so much. [it] Made in those years, you know and don’t know what it was. It’s like something is completely closed in on you and you have to learn everything from the beginning.
Basinger said he had to “relearn how to walk” and was “nervous about everything”, including being taken to the Malibu tunnels. “It all became a lot of work figuring out how to do this,” he said.
“You’re constantly living with a dry mouth, you’re shaking, you’re constantly tired,” he said.
Bessinger sought treatment for six months, but recalled feeling alone and thinking that many could not understand her struggle, especially given the current stigma surrounding mental health. “I was really scared because I didn’t want to tell anyone what was going on in my business,” he said.
He called his daughter “a great teacher and a great healer”. Of Ireland’s Baldwin, Bessinger said, “It brought me out of my shell.”
Source: Hollywood Reporter
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