Psychology
Actor Threw Up Before Every Theater Performance for Four Years
Lewis Howes School of Greatness
Fear, Shame, and the Fight to Get Out of Your Own Way | Joel Kinnaman
"Every time I went on stage, every time before. As soon as I heard the audience chatter, like the audience murmur, my mouth would fill with water. And I was like, okay, here we go. And I would actually— I would have a bucket prepared and I would like— come on, buddy. Before— well, this is stage theater, huh? This is like on-stage theater. Yeah, but it could even be like, you know, just a, you know, 10 people in the audience, you know. Really? You throw up almost every time? Every time."
Joel Kinnaman revealed he suffered from severe stage fright that caused him to vomit before every live theater performance for the first three to four years of his acting career. He kept a bucket prepared backstage and would throw up regardless of audience size, even with just 10 people present. The debilitating condition stemmed from negative inner voices and feelings of unworthiness that plagued him during his early years at Sweden's National Theater School.
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Lewis Howes School of Greatness