White Lotus star credits dialectical behavioral therapy for managing borderline personality disorder symptoms
"I hated it so much doing it. It just feels like elementary weird work of like checking in with your senses and holding ice cubes if you're upset. But I do it in life now so I see the merit in it. I check myself and I'm like oh you're idolizing this person oh you're wanting to do that thing where they're your whole world and you're ready to drop everything. Instead of lashing out I'm like I check myself. The recovery time like before it would take me a couple months to realize I was being crazy. Then it went down to a week. Then it went down to a day. Then it went down to like I can check myself within like 30 seconds."
About this episode
Actors Dax Shepard and Monica Padman interview Lucas Gage, the 30-year-old actor known for his roles in White Lotus, Fargo, and the Netflix series You, in a remarkably candid conversation about mental health, sexuality, trauma, and Hollywood pressures. Gage reveals he was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility after suffering on-set breakdowns while filming Dead Boy Detectives, where he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and placed on heavy medications. Shortly after his release, while still in what he describes as a manic state, he married a man he had known for only weeks in a ceremony filmed for the Kardashians reality show featuring a surprise performance by Shania Twain. The marriage quickly ended in divorce. Gage discusses facing years of queer-baiting accusations from online critics who believed he was straight and appropriating gay roles, when in fact he was closeted due to explicit warnings from Hollywood agents and executives that coming out would destroy his career and limit him to only gay roles. He explains this pressure was compounded by confusion about his sexuality stemming from childhood sexual abuse and growing up in the hyper-masculine military culture of San Diego. At 18, he was severely beaten by five men after defending a gay friend from a homophobic attack, suffering broken teeth, nose, and orbital bones requiring reconstructive surgery; the attackers faced no charges. Gage credits dialectical behavioral therapy, which he initially resented, for helping him manage BPD symptoms, reducing his emotional recovery time from months to seconds. He also describes his viral confrontation with a director who insulted his apartment during a Zoom audition, an incident that briefly made him a hero before conspiracy theories claimed he staged it. Throughout, Gage demonstrates striking self-awareness about his patterns of idealization, codependency, and self-abandonment, while expressing gratitude that Armchair Expert inspired him to seek help. He currently stars in the Netflix romcom Voicemails for Isabelle and begins filming a Prison Break reboot for Hulu.
Key takeaways
- Lucas Gage was involuntarily committed after on-set breakdowns led his representatives to demand psychiatric treatment before allowing further auditions, resulting in a borderline personality disorder diagnosis.
- The actor married a stranger after knowing him only weeks in a ceremony filmed for the Kardashians while in a manic state shortly after leaving a psychiatric facility.
- Gage remained closeted for years due to explicit Hollywood warnings that coming out would limit him to only gay roles, pressure he says still exists today.
- He was severely beaten by five men at 18 while defending a gay friend from homophobic attack, suffering facial fractures requiring reconstruction, but attackers faced no charges.
- Gage credits dialectical behavioral therapy for reducing his BPD symptom recovery time from months to seconds despite initially hating the treatment approach.
- His viral video confronting a director who mocked his apartment during a Zoom audition briefly made him a hero before conspiracy theories claimed he staged it.
- The actor reveals childhood sexual abuse by a male created years of confusion about his sexual orientation as he attributed same-sex attraction to trauma.