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Marlon Wayans is stressing the "need" for therapy within the Black community.
Marlon Wayans is championing the need for therapy in the Black community and sharing how much it’s benefitted his overall well-being.
The veteran actor and stand-up comic sat down with Hollywood & Mind on Sept. 12 for an afternoon of important conversations around Black Representation and Mental Health. Reflecting on his 30-year career, his experiences with grief, the pursuit of joy, and his views on spirituality, Wayans passionately emphasized the importance of therapy in his life and the Black community as a whole.
“I’ve done therapy, and I suggest people stay in therapy,” he told Hollywood & Mind founder Cathy Applefeld Olson.
“It’s funny… Black people, we often don’t deal with our mental health. We laugh at it; we’re not taught that. I want to use my platform, my voice to tell people, my people, that we need it. It helped me.”
Wayans reflected on the recent loss of both his parents, attributing the grief he experienced to a shift in his perspective on his role as an entertainer and the impact he wants to make on the world
“Have no cap on your dreams,” he told the crowd. “I don’t want to be divisive in anything I do. This world needs laughs, love and lots of learning, and that’s what I’m here for.”
The White Chicks star also discussed his recent Prime Video stand-up special, Good Grief, where he delves into his struggles with depression following the passing of his mother in 2020 and his father three years later.
“My mother’s death broke me into a million pieces. I was shattered,” Wayans revealed. “They couldn’t make a liquor strong enough for me to drink when I lost my mother. When my father died, I slowly put myself back together.”
“When you go through pain and devastation and you put yourself back together, you haven’t lost you, you just found a better you,” he added.
Wayans stars in Jordan Peele’s upcoming psychological horror film Him, set for release in September 2025. He plays a legendary quarterback who takes a promising young athlete, portrayed by Tyriq Withers, to his secluded compound for training. The comedian credits taking on the lead role in the film as a transformative experience for his overall well-being.
“In the movie, I play the greatest quarterback of all time. I went on a journey of what it was to be great and realized as I was building for this character, I was actually building a better version of me,” Wayans shared. “I jumped in a murky pool to find this character because you go to dark places to find characters, and when I was digging for the character Isaiah, I looked up and saw broken Marlon, lying face down, and I was like… Forget that GOAT,” he said, referring to his character. “This one needs your help. And so finding Isaiah helped me find the better version of Marlon.”
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