(Warming: this article contains details about sexual abuse) Kevin Smith is opening up about his struggles as he talks about his mental health, sexual abuse as a child, and the treatment he went through to better his life. He talked to People magazine about this journey and realization of what was happening inside his mind that was affecting his quality of life (seen below).
It all came to a climax last January. Kevin Smith woke up terrified and checked himself into Arizona’s Sierra Tuscon treatment center for mental health help. Through therapy, he learned and dissected childhood trauma that has impacted his adulthood. He cites his “larger than life” personality that fans have known for decades as what he used to cope with what happened in his life. It also made him open up to a friend, who he called to say, “I’m in a weird, dark place. I need to go somewhere and get help.”
Kevin Smith opens up about past sexual abuse and receiving mental health treatment
The Clerks creator looked back on a time when he was six as an older boy forced him to perform sexual acts on a neighborhood girl. At the time, he thought of it as “playing doctor in an alleyway.” He kept that in his mind for decades until going to the treatment center, where a therapist helped him realize what it really was and the trauma behind it. The therapist told him that “when a third party” makes “you to do something against your core values like that, that’s sexual abuse.”
Kevin Smith also struggled with his mental health when it came to his weight. He notably lost 50 pounds after his nearly lethal heart attack. Unfortunately, like many people who were overweight since childhood, he faced bullying about it. At nine years old, a teacher made fun of him in front of the class. He cites his weight as the source behind this big personality that captured audiences and what became his “favorite piece of clothing” when he was a “self-loathing mess.”
“I felt disgusting, like I didn’t matter. That’s when ‘the other guy’ started to appear. I decided to be entertaining and make people love me before they noticed I was fat.”
Now, Kevin Smith has a positive viewpoint on mental health and healing. For him, “trauma is trauma,” which is what he learned after hearing stories from veterans struggling with PTSD to his own struggles with his weight. Through that, he learned “there’ s no differentiation” between two people’s different traumatic experiences. He also learned about self-acceptance, self-love, and self-worth.