Alden Richards shared how 2024 was the year he struggled the most.
Photo: Alden Richards/Instagram
In an interview with Nelson Canlas on GMA Integrated News, Alden got real when he talked about how the last year has been difficult for him.
“I think last year was my lowest year, [it was] rock bottom,” he said. “It took me six months to get over that. That was… Hindi naman siya clinically diagnosed, but that was depression at its finest. That was depression.”
“Before kasi hindi ko siya kayang pag-usapan kasi hirap ako. Ayokong magpakita ng weakness (Before, I couldn’t talk about it because I was struggling. I didn’t want to show any weakness),” he added.
The 33-year-old actor didn’t expect that his overgenerosity would become one of the factors that led him to doubt himself and struggle internally.
“Inuuna ko muna lahat ng tao bago sarili ko (I put everyone else first before myself). But last year, I think that was my breaking point, kasi minsan ‘di ba tayo (because sometimes, don’t we) always go out of our way to help other people,” he shared, adding that he would always provide help as much as possible.
Then, he took a look at his inner state: “Ang nangyari sa akin, paglingon ko doon sa timba ko, wala na palang natira sa akin (What happened to me was that when I looked back at my bucket, I realized there was nothing left for me), and that broke me to a million pieces.”
With the struggles he faced in the past year, he talked about how he felt like he wasn’t mentally present in his life, and how his thoughts were often “clouded with negative thoughts.”
“Alam mong meron kang makakasama, alam mo na andyan ‘yung mga taong nagmamahal sayo, pero hindi mo maproseso nang tama ‘yung emosyon mo (You know you have someone with you, you know that there are people who love you, but you can’t properly process your emotions)… It’s very hard to be present.”
This time, he’s been focusing more on himself—doing things that make him happy. This year, he received a scholarship offer from an aviation school and began pilot training.
However, when asked about the state of his love life, he asserted that he doesn’t want to be defined by it, but would rather have people focus on what he can contribute to the industry.
“I don’t understand. Hindi ko gets bakit ganon ang mindset natin palagi, na ang basis ng kasiyahan ng isang tao [ay ang] love life (I don’t get why we always have that mindset—that a person’s happiness is based on their love life),” he remarked.
“It’s just this is my story, and this is how I want my story to be told [and] not based on the presumption of other people. I’m so done with that. I’ve been here long enough. I know I’ve done so much for the industry, and I would like to do more for the industry right now.”
Alden Richards is an award-winning actor best known for his performances in films such as Imagine You and Me, Five Breakups and a Romance, as well as Hello, Love, Goodbye and Hello, Love, Again—two of the highest-grossing Filipino films of all time.
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