“Shazam” and “Chuck” actor Zachary Levi and his nonprofit, NerdHQ, raised more than $80,000 for mental health during a three-night series of events at Utah’s comic convention, FanX.
The series of events, sponsored by FanX and Angel Studios, included an intimate Q&A with Levi discussing mental health and a screening of his new movie, “Sketch.” There was also a karaoke night with the actor and other celebrity guests, as well as a dance party on Saturday night.
Donations to Levi’s nonprofit, NerdHQ, were encouraged at all of the events. All donations went toward providing free access to therapy for those who can not afford it, as well as other mental health initiatives.
“This cause is deeply personal to me,” Levi said. “I know what it’s like to struggle, and I also know how life-changing it can be to get the right help.”
During his FanX panel on Thursday afternoon, Levi spoked extensively on his own experiences with mental health and encouraged the audience to “love each other.”
To open his Q&A panel, Levi encouraged members of the audience to introduce themselves to those seated around them and express gratitude for their new acquaintance’s presence.
Following the brief introductions, the crowd quieted down and Levi got emotional.
Fighting off tears, the actor said, “We are living in really wacky times, guys. ... And if we don’t start seeing each other as human beings, if we don’t stop dehumanizing each other, we are going to keep going down really wacky roads.”
He continued, “Let’s love each other.”
In the second half of his panel, Levi prompted the audience to participate in another activity. He asked those in the audience to raise a hand if they had ever experienced stress, anxiety or depression.
“I like to do this with my panels because I think it’s incredibly important for context and for all of us to understand each other,” Levi said. “We’re all struggling. We’re all dealing with these things ... this is why we have got to love ourselves. This is why we have to love each other.”
Levi got emotional for a second time as he detailed his own experiences with anxiety.
He told the audience that while watching Disney’s “Inside Out 2,” he related deeply with the “Anxiety” character, triggering him to cry “uncontrollably” in the movie theater.
“Also, I’m not embarrassed about this. We should all cry. It’s important. Especially guys,” Levi added after sharing his experience. “It’s beautiful.”
How therapy saved Levi’s life
In 2022, Levi released a memoir, “Radical Love: Learning to Accept Yourself and Others,” which detailed what he described as a lifelong struggle with anxiety and depression stemming from growing up in an abusive home.
Levi had an absent father and a mother with severe mental health struggles, he said, per The Hollywood Reporter. His stepfather pushed impossible expectations onto Levi, who always felt short, giving way to destructive behaviors, such as substance abuse.
“I was running from pain. My whole life I was running from pain,” Levi told The Christian Broadcasting Network.
When he was 37, Levi’s struggles caught up to him and he suffered from “a complete mental breakdown,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
After hitting what he described as “rock bottom,” Levi went to “life saving therapy,” he told CBN.
He continued, “It was 37 years of lots and lots of trauma, unhealed trauma. A real testament of how I think God works, and what we ought to prioritize ... I didn’t understand that. So to go away and do this therapy, finally, and figure out I haven’t loved myself my entire life.”
“‘Shazam!’ literally happened while I was finishing up my therapy,” Levi added. “But only because God was like, ‘Good, now that you have done the thing, now I can give you the blessing. You would have self-destructed had I given you this blessing before you did the work.’ And that’s the work.”