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Actor Harrison Ford attended Ripon College in Wisconsin, but unlike many students, the star’s<\/a> years as an undergrad were anything but carefree. The man who would travel the world as Indiana Jones<\/a> \u201crarely ventured out,\u201d he tells<\/a> The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>‘s Awards Chatter<\/em> podcast. \u201cOn the rare occasion I did go to the classroom, I would often touch the door on the outside of the building, and turn around and walk back.\u201d<\/p>\n On Apple TV series Shrinking<\/em><\/a>, which had its third season finale this week, the 83-year-old plays gruff therapist Dr. Paul Rhoades, a role he’s expected to continue (in one form or another<\/a>) in the show’s upcoming season four. Perhaps his experiences in the show helped him diagnose his younger self, who he says \u201cwas more than depressed. I think I was ill. I was socially ill, psychologically not well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Harrison Ford said of his early college years.<\/p>\n The turning point, as Ford explained when he accepted his life achievement trophy<\/a> at the Actor Awards in March, was in his third year of school. \u201cI felt isolated and alone, and then I found a company of people doing plays,” a visibly emotional Ford said. “People I once thought were misfits and geeks turned out to be my people. I found a calling, a life in storytelling. an identity in pretending to be other people,\u201d he said. \u201cThe work I do with other actors, it’s one of the great joys of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Ford elaborated on that thought in the interview published this week, saying \u201cI never found a community at college until I accidentally\u2014in an attempt to get my grade point average up\u2014took a class called \u2018drama\u2019 without reading the full description of the class. It started out in the description talking about reading and analyzing plays, but I didn\u2019t read the part where it said that you had to actually be in them<\/em> as well, so that was a surprise. I\u2019d never done anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so I think I simply found my place amongst storytellers,\u201d Ford continued. “It really changed my world, changed my life.\u201d<\/p>\n So in a certain sense, Ford has come full-circle, from someone too depressed to leave his dorm room to someone who helps those with mental health issues. \u201cNow I\u2019m doing something I never thought that I would be doing: a television show now in its fourth season, a comedy, playing a shrink?\u201d Ford asks, seemingly in disbelief at the turns life takes.<\/p>\n Saved from sadness by acting, Ford’s life is lighter and brighter these days. \u201cI\u2019m really quite goofy all on my own,\u201d he told Vanity Fair<\/em><\/a> in 2024. \u201cBut when I\u2019m in the company of other people that I know to be goofy, there\u2019s a certain relaxation of the rules. I like to have fun. I like to be around people that are having fun. I don\u2019t like to get too serious.\u201d<\/p>\n Originally published by Vanity Fair Italy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n