'Arrow' star Stephen Amell had a panic attack in the middle of a podcast interview

Stephen Amell is struggling to say goodbye to his long-running series Arrow and after spending eight years filming the beloved comic series in Vancouver, Amell is understandably physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. During a December appearance on actor Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast Inside of You, Amell began speaking about his burnout following the end of Arrow and it triggered a panic attack.When the podcast was initially recorded, Amell was forced to cut the interview short when he began to feel hot and nauseous. The pair met once again two weeks later to finish the interview and on January 22, Rosenbaum made both halves of the podcast available to listeners.The first half of the interview focuses on Amell dealing with the feelings of grief and fatigue after wrapping his eighth and final season starring as Oliver McQueen on Arrow (streaming now on Crave). The Toronto native said that he wished he had planned a retreat following the end of filming. “I need to mentally reset,” said Amell. “If I could do it again, I would have absconded with my family. I’d be in Africa right now on Safari with no phone. I just feel like I’ve been trying to do things for people for the past eight years. I just need a f***ing break. I want to be a dad, I want to be a husband. I don’t even want to talk to my friends that much. I just need a break. And I cried about it twice today.”In the new podcast, Rosenbaum revealed that he sought treatment for his mental health earlier that year, attending a clinic for 22 days that helped deal with feelings of anxiety and depression. “I’ve considered going to something like that,” said Amell, who admitted that his wife, Cassandra Jean Amell, had been urging him to seek professional help for his mental health. “She’s genuinely worried about me.”Speaking with Rosenbaum less than one month after wrapping Arrow, Amell said that the show’s packed schedule and grueling shoots had resulted in an intense fatigue. “I think over the course of eight years I lost a year’s worth of sleep,” said Amell.

 

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One last time.

A post shared by Stephen Amell (@stephenamell) on Nov 7, 2019 at 2:02am PST

Around the 30-minute mark, Amell began to complain of feeling hot and nauseated, declining Rosenbaum’s offer to drive him home and saying instead that he needed to walk. In the second half of the interview, Rosenbaum applauds Amell for returning to the show, with the Arrow star revealing that he had visited a doctor shortly before the podcast and found out he was physically fit. "Realizing nothing was f***ing wrong with me and that's when you have the moment of realization like, 'Oh my god, it's in my head',” he said.

I did Rosey’s podcast after Arrow ended. We had to cut it short because I had a full on panic attack. It wasn’t pretty. I came back a few weeks ago to chat about it. I was in a really bad spot and I’m happy to report that I’m doing much better. Listen please :) https://t.co/bpnUDqtQZN

— Stephen Amell (@StephenAmell) January 21, 2020

Amell is of course not the first actor to find himself dealing with intense exhaustion and mental health issues after wrapping a show. In 2019, Game of Thrones star Kit Harington sought treatment for stress and negative emotions at the Privé-Swiss clinic in Connecticut following the end of his hugely popular run as Jon Snow.[video_embed id='1800966']Prince Harry and Ed Sheeran team up for Mental Health Day[/video_embed]When it comes to mental health, every action counts! Join the conversation on Bell Let’s Talk Day, January 29, and help create positive change for those living with mental health issues. For every text message, mobile or long-distance call made by Bell, Bell Aliant and Bell MTS customers, Bell will donate five cents to Canadian mental health initiatives. The same goes for anyone sending a tweet using #BellLetsTalk, watching the Bell Let’s Talk Day video on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or Snapchat, or using the Bell Let’s Talk Facebook frame or Snapchat filter. But that’s just the first step: Visit letstalk.bell.ca for more ways you can effect change and build awareness around mental health.