• Ryan Reynolds opened up about his anxiety in an interview with Variety.
• The actor says that the expectations surrounding "Deadpool," caused him crippling stress and sleep loss.
• Luckily, he said his wife Blake Lively was there to help him through. 
• "Blake helped me through that. I'm lucky to have her around just to keep me sane."

Anxiety doesn't discriminate, and even affects some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Take Ryan Reynolds for example, who opened up about struggles with anxiety that began at a very young age.

"[My] father was tough. He wasn't easy on anyone. And he wasn't easy on himself," Reynolds says in an interview with Variety. "I think the anxiety might have started there, trying 
to find ways to control others by trying to control myself. At the time, I never recognized that. I was just a twitchy kid."

Reynolds evolved into a full-fledged movie star, and single-handedly spearheaded the production of a new Marvel movie, "Deadpool." Against all odds — the low budget, the hesitant production studio, the R rating — the 2016 film became the highest-grossing R-rated movie in box office history. 

Although the success of Reynolds' passion project calmed his nerves, fans' expectations and excitement during promotion only stoked his anxiety. 

"By the time we were in post, we'd been to Comic-Con, and people went crazy for it. The expectations were eating me alive," Reynolds tells Variety.

Luckily, Reynolds is married to Blake Lively— whom he has jokingly referred to as "a human Denny's all day long" because of how well she keeps herself together. (Don't worry though, he clarified that she's "the most beautiful Denny's you've ever seen.")

"Blake helped me through it," Reynolds says. "I'm lucky to have her around just to keep me sane."

Reynolds and Lively may be everyone's favorite couple, but the two are candid when it comes to their "perfect" lives. In an interview with Glamour, Lively also revealed that she has "complete anxiety" when it comes to the sexist media and how people portray her.

"Not all men, but a subsection of men, have a desire to understand and control women. To do that, you have to paint them into this thing you can wrap your head around. But women are complex," she says. "It also is [a reminder] that what you see in the media is not real life. The night before an interview, I have complete anxiety: How is this person going to spin me?"

The "All I See Is You" actress also touches upon the strangeness of being a reserved person employed in Hollywood, which is a conflict that she and Reynolds share.

"My husband and I are really shy people who express ourselves best when we're acting, when we're hiding as someone else," Lively tells Glamour. "So the fact that very shy people have to share that shy person with the world — and are sometimes hurt by it — it's very weird emotionally."

Despite her dismissal of these thoughts as "champagne problems," anxiety is a real issue that affects many Americans. We're glad that Reynolds and Lively are able to support each other.

Sign up here to get INSIDER's favorite stories straight to your inbox.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what Trump's tax plan means for people at every income level from $20,000 to $269,000 a year