LOS ANGELES, Aug 23: Actor James Franco said there was a time he was completely addicted to his work.
The “Spring Breakers” star said he could not enjoy his achievements as he was busy working continuously.
In an interview with GQ, Franco said, “The thing about work addiction is our culture supports it. We reward hard work and success. But it can really mask addictive, escapist behaviour. Every interview I gave, people would tell me, ‘You’re known for doing all these things, are you a workaholic?’ And what I would hear was, ‘That means you work really hard. You work harder than anybody.’
“The curse of that is that I actually couldn’t enjoy my success. I was nominated for an Oscar, I was working with all my heroes. All the dreams I’d had as a young man had come true. And I still couldn’t enjoy it. It was never going to be enough.”
The 39-year-old actor said he “hit a wall” when he realised he had a problem with working too much.
“I really had a moment of crisis. I hit a wall … It was a gradual thing. I hadn’t been in a relationship in a long time and was, like, realising how much I was running from feelings and people. And how much of my identity was wrapped up in work …
“But as soon as I took a step back and stopped working, it was like, all the feelings flooded in and it was like this is what I was running from. This is what I was using work to hide from. This is why I had to occupy myself every minute of the day, 24 hours a day. Because I was running, running from emotions and being vulnerable and being around people. Being myself.” (PTI)
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