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Award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo, 55, is well-known for his roles in the movies Now You See Me, Shutter Island, and 13 Going on 30.
In addition to his acting career, the Dark Waters star is well-known for his political activism on topics related to mental health, the environment, and humanitarianism.
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Ruffalo has undoubtedly achieved great success, but he has also faced tragedy.
Find out what Mark Ruffalo kept secret in the clip below…
It turns out that the adored Hollywood icon has experienced some difficult times.
Ruffalo tells The Observer that ‘people are so afraid of mental illness’ and that it’s something he’s been ‘struggling with his whole life’.
He adds: “It’s like a low-grade depression that just is running all the time in the background.”
The Marvel star also acknowledges that he felt embarrassed of his ambitions to be an actor when he was younger.
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He claimed that during his school years, he felt “strange, unique, and freakish” in a conversation with the Child Mind Institute.
Ruffalo has also opened up about experiencing suicidal thoughts, acknowledging that one of his closest friend’s suicide served as a ‘rock’ to get him out of his own depression.
“When he died, it rocked me out of a dark depression,” he recalls.
“The moment he left, I realised that death wasn’t an escape, that suicide wasn’t an answer.”
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Ruffalo overcame this difficult period, but in 2001, he was given the devastating news that he had an acoustic neuroma, a brain tumour.
Despite the benign nature of the tumour, the surgery to remove it left him with no hearing in his left ear and entirely paralysed one side of his face.
He was subsequently forced to put his work and social life on hold.
Following the operation, Ruffalo says he also gained two stone in weight and his prescribed drugs resulted in a loss of balance.
Recalling keeping his condition a secret, the Spotlight actor says (via Express): “I didn’t want any visitors.
“I was so unbelievably miserable, and what was worse was people’s reactions to seeing me. It was shattering to them.”
To help cope with all his lingering health conditions, Ruffalo ended up turning to meditation.
He explains: “It’s pretty much a daily practise that quiets your brain and oddly enough, actually slows down time, so you’re not so much trapped in your immediate reactions to things.
“My work started to change, my luck started to change. The way the world looked to me changed.”
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But things took an even darker turn for Ruffalo in 2008 when he experienced a family tragedy.
Ruffalo’s brother, Scott, was shot in the head while in his own home and to this day, no arrests or charges have been made.
Opening up about the unsolved case, The Adam Project star says: “It’ll always be the great mystery of my life.
“I make peace with every mystery in my life, you just live alongside it.”
Ruffalo’s courage in overcoming all of these setbacks in his life demonstrates how really inspirational he is.
