Los Angeles, California - Actor Harrison Ford has spoken openly about his battle with depression.
In a new episode of the Awards Chatter podcast, the 83-year-old Star Wars star spoke about a particularly difficult period in his life.
During his undergrad studies, he suffered from depression and rarely left his room.
"I would get up out of my single bed, go to a phone, order a pizza, go back and lay down in bed until the pizza came. I would eat the pizza, throw the wrappers in the corner, go back to sleep," Ford recalled.
The Shrinking actor added that he "was more than depressed."
"I think I was ill. I was socially ill, psychologically not well," he continued.
While in college, he initially found it difficult to make friends until he took a theater course to improve his grade point average. He hadn't previously been aware that the class not only involved reading and analyzing plays, but also acting.
This gave him his first-ever stage experience, and the course also gave him the feeling that he really belonged for the first time.
Harrison Ford was kicked out of college shortly before graduation
"I think I simply found my place amongst storytellers," Ford explained.
"It really changed my world, changed my life."
Ford studied philosophy at Ripon College in Wisconsin, but he was expelled just four days before his graduation due to an accusation of plagiarism.
"I had not been strict enough in controlling whose words I was using in my senior thesis," he confessed.
"And I was accused of and admitted that there was plagiarism."
Despite the setback, he still went on to have an impressive career: he became world-famous with film roles in Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
"I got to play leading parts because the films I was in had success, and that success carried me along," Ford said.
"And it has carried me along, but a big part of that success is being in the right place at the right time, luck, persistence."
If you or someone you know needs help, please contact the 24-hour National Suicide Prevention Hotline by calling or texting 988 for free and confidential support. You can also text "HOME" to 741741 anytime for the Crisis Text Line and access to live, trained crisis counselors.