Amanda Seyfried Opens Up About Her Paralyzing Lifelong Anxiety

Actress Amanda Seyfried reveals in an interview that she's suffered from paralyzing anxiety her whole life. As she prepared to make her Off-Broadway debut, Seyfried revealed in an interview with Vogue that she suffers from paralyzing anxiety, and she's working through it with a therapist.

Seyfried recounted the story of her 2012 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman when she downed a few shots of Jameson to help her relax before the show. Seyfried actually copped to it on-air at the time, telling Letterman that she was "pretty drunk" and went on to add that "I've never done a live television show—after noon—without some kind of liquid courage."

Thinking back on it now, she told Vogue, "It made it fun for me, but then I watched it and was like 'That is not what I want to promote about myself.'"

Still, the incident ended up inspiring a positive change for Seyfried, who shortly after found a therapist to help her deal with her anxiety and fear of getting up in front of an audience.

"I have a lot of anxiety that I've been struggling with my whole life," she explained to Vogue. "So I have been working through it. I'm terrified, but this is exactly what I wanted."

Stage fright is a common sign of larger anxiety problems, and people who suffer from the disorder often spend the days and weeks leading up to a public event worrying about the situation and then dwelling on it long after the fact.