Michael K. Williams Sought Therapy After ‘Lovecraft Country’: It Took Me On An Emotional & Mental Rollercoaster That I Was Not Prepared For

Michael K. Williams Sought Therapy After ‘Lovecraft Country’: It Took Me On An Emotional & Mental Rollercoaster That I Was Not Prepared For

Beloved actor Michael K. Williams played many characters before becoming Montrose Freeman on Lovecraft Country. From portraying the iconic Omar on The Wire to Albert “Chalky” White on Boardwalk Empire, he could step into the life of characters with ease. However, the award-winning actor, who tragically passed earlier this week, previously recalled the emotions his role in Lovecraft Country would take him through. He said in a resurfaced video,

“It took me on an emotional and mental rollercoaster that I was not prepared for personally. Thank God I had the cast and these amazing angels to hold me up.”

 

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His co-star Courtney B. Vance chimed in as Michael K. Williams held back tears and said,

“Look at that. Look at Misha. In any other show they would’ve let you go and this company, they embraced you and said we gon’ take a pause, we gon’ get yourself back on track and we going forward. We are with you.”

The 54-year-old actor had the support of the creator of Lovecraft Country, Misha Green, along with the cast as he went through his mental health struggles on set. In February, only a few months before his passing, he told Tamron Hall that he was starting therapy after the show wrapped.

“I just started therapy, you know, and really taking that seriously and starting to unpack, like you said, the critic in my head and what and how that has affected my — my actions, my responses to certain situations, my relationships.”

While speaking with Tamron Hall he was promoting the movie Body Breakers which followed a crooked drug treatment center in LA. He had a visceral reaction to being in the film and spoke on the way drugs are viewed.

“Drugs and alcohol are not the problems, they’re merely symptoms of the problem. And once those things go away, the real work begins, you know … working on all the character defects, the moral compass — the skewed moral compass.”

In 2016, Williams was open about his struggle with addiction after The Wire and said:

“I definitely wore that dark energy that Omar was — he was a dark soul, a tortured soul — and I just … lived in that and that’s what people was attracted to … The lines got blurred.”

Unfortunately, the world lost a great actor who was shining a light on mental health issues in Hollywood and he will surely be missed.

What do you think about the late Michael K. William’s comments on his experience with Lovecraft Country? Let us know in the comments.