Even though he’d started his break from the acting business immediately after The Crowded Room dropped on Apple TV, there were some unsavory minds out there who ran with the belief it was the scathing reviews that caused Tom Holland to step out of the limelight.
In fact, he’d been planning his sabbatical for a long time before that, which is fair when he’s basically been working non-stop since he was a child. He knew the critics were harsh, although he did at least praise his fans for showing support, but now he’s opening up with both barrels to trash the press for twisting it to suit their agenda.
During his appearance on On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man let rip.
“I was having a really hard time with the job just because of how taxing it was, the emotional capacity that I was having to get to every day. And I decided to delete my Instagram because I just felt like I was so addicted to this kind of false version of my life that it was just taking over.
I decided to make an announcement, which unfortunately we have to do. I tried to position myself and say like, ‘I’m taking a break from social media because I feel like my mental health will benefit from it.’ And the thing that really upset me is the press ran with that and they tried to make out that I was having this mental breakdown. And what upset me was if I was having a mental breakdown, that’s not for you to report on.
They took the story in the wrong direction. They painted this negative light on mental health. Rather than saying, ‘It’s okay that he’s doing it, so we should all feel okay to do it too,’ they were saying, ‘Oh look, he’s not the perfect happy-go-lucky kid you think he is. He’s having a nervous breakdown in New York.’ I think that that was a really unfair line of journalism.”
When Holland does return to the screen, the most likely avenue appears to be his fourth outing as Spider-Man, so hopefully he comes back with his head clear, batteries recharged, and ability to block out the negativity.