TJ Miller explains why his brain condition caused him to get a bad reputation
Shola Lee
Featured Image Credit: Drinkin' Bros Studios /YouTube / 20th Century Fox
Actor and comedian TJ Miller has said that his brain condition made it hard for him to work normal hours.
Explaining his condition in a recent interview, Miller told of how he runs at a much faster pace than most people and was even asked by his wife, Kate, to slow down for his health.
The actor is best known for his roles in Silicone Valley, Deadpool, and The Emoji Movie.
Speaking about his brain surgery on the Drinkin' Bros Studios podcast, he explained that he was born with a malformation in his brain and suffered a hemorrhage just after he finished filming Yogi Bear 3D in New Zealand.
"So, I had this hemorrhage because my brain is unstable and luckily I had a bleed, two seizures, and then I went to the hospital."
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He added that the hospital treatment was successful and that he 'take this medication to stop me from having seizures, strokes, and aneurysms'.
However, that's not the only medication that Miller takes, as he says he is being treated for his mania: "I also take medication for mania and so what happened was, I was also working at a speed that people really didn't understand but could profit from in Hollywood and I never really talked a lot about being brain damaged.
"Or, as my cognitive remediation neuropsychologist would say, you know, there are challenges right but it's really I was born with damage to my brain and they sort of fixed it.
"But I used to have a level of mania that you would attribute to a bipolar disorder but I did not have depression. Or, if I did, the mania would run right over it, and so I was just working at a speed that people couldn't even understand."
"So, you know, later I would sort of find out that this speed was just, I just thought I didn't need to sleep more than four hours I thought that I could work for nine hours straight and that was just fun for me."
But it took its toll on his physical health and speaking about his time in Silicone Valley, Miller said that he would get up at 5 or 6 am, go to work, finish, do stand-up sets till midnight, write with a friend, sleep at 2 am and do the whole thing again.
And, honestly, we got tired just reading that.
The unusual routine also caused issues with Miller's public perception: "What happened was, people thought I was a drug addict because that's not how most people work."
The actor now opts for a much chiller pace for his health, and to help people working with him.
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