Comedian John Candy knew he was running out of time, following his son’s heart-wrenching realization.
Before his sudden death from a heart attack at 43, the beloved actor had started making changes.
He was eating better. He was seeking help. But the stress and years of anxiety had taken their toll.
In the new documentary John Candy: I Like Me, directed by Colin Hanks and produced by Ryan Reynolds, the late actor’s children open up about their father’s final years.
The film includes interviews with close friends and co-stars like Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Eugene Levy, and Catherine O’Hara.
“The documentary highlights how he did think he was on borrowed time,” said Chris Candy, 41. “I remember Carl Reiner referred to it as a sort of Damocles swinging over his head.”
Candy died in 1994 while filming Wagons East! in Durango, Mexico.
He was found in his room after suffering a heart attack in his sleep. According to longtime friend Don Lake, he had been reading the Bible before he died.
“When I heard how they found him, that he had sat up on the side of the bed, opened the Bible, and was reading from it before passing away, I remember thinking how he was trying to find home,” Lake said.
Chris Candy described how anxiety weighed heavily on his father in his final years.
“He never talked about it, but we knew it was happening,” he said. “The anxiety was manifested in him so strongly.”
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John and his wife Rosemary had entered couples therapy and later pursued individual sessions.
Their children were also encouraged to do the same.
“This was part of self-care, like going to the doctor,” Chris said. “But it doesn’t need to be therapy. It’s just the concept of being open. It could be your best friend. It could be your partner.”
Candy was 5 when his own father died suddenly of a heart attack.
The trauma followed him for life. When fellow comic John Belushi died in 1982, Candy took it hard.
His daughter, Jennifer Candy, now 45, said he was often criticized for his weight, but his true struggle was with self-acceptance.
“Like Del Griffith, he knows he’s imperfect,” she said, referencing Candy’s role in Planes, Trains & Automobiles.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
