Andrew Garfield has shared how he felt he was ‘living and dying by external validation’ after being hit by an identity crisis in his mid-20s.
The actor, 41, has received critical acclaim for a string of roles in his career, and even landed an Oscar nomination for his performance in Hacksaw Ridge in 2016.
But in a new interview with GQ Hype, Andrew has shared that he began to re-examine his life after noticing how external success, particularly during awards season, began to affect his mood, and he sought help from a therapist.
He explained: ‘I was living and dying by external validation, when I’m getting nominated for an award, I feel great. When I lose that award, I feel like sh*t.
‘And I was like, ”This is unsustainable. This is not how I want to live my life… I can’t be so dependent on things that are outside of my control. I want to know there’s something eternal in me, that my worthiness is not dependent on whether or not you like me.”’
Andrew added that his need for validation stemmed from a competitive relationship with his family during his childhood, and his decision to be more open about his feelings has also rubbed off on his father Richard.
Andrew Garfield has shared how he felt he was ‘living and dying by external validation’ after being hit by an identity crisis in his mid-20s
Opening up about his relationship with his dad, Andrew shared that through their emotional development he’s realised that those with Jewish heritage have had to ‘prove their worthiness as human beings.’
The We Live In Time star added: ‘I think it has been a series of revelations for him as well, in terms of his experiences as a child and his parents’ experiences, and we go deeper and deeper and deeper into our epigenetics on his side, this Jewish survival gene.
‘We’re people who’ve had to prove our worthiness as human beings over and over and over again. And to the point where we’ve been deemed so worthless in my ancestry.’
Andrew has returned to acting after taking a two-year hiatus with the tear-jerking romance We Live In Time, where he stars opposite Florence Pugh.
While promoting the film, the Amazing Spiderman star has spokenly openly about hs own struggles with grief, following the death of his mother Lynn in 2019.
He added: ‘I feel quite passionate about this thing that’s just available to us that we’ve been somehow imprisoned from or cordoned off from.
‘It’s like, ”oh, wait a minute, we’re allowed to feel all of this”. And actually, we can show up for each other and support each other as men.’
Discussing his decision to take a break from acting, he added: ‘I can keep doing the same thing, but it doesn’t feel right any more. I’m getting back to the pure joy of the work rather than having it tied to career in any way.’
The actor shared that he began to re-examine his life after noticing how career success began to affect his mood, and he sought help from a therapist
After being released in the US back in October, We Live In Time finally hit UK cinemas on New Year’s Day.
But while viewers broke down in tears while watching Florence and Andrew’s ‘enchanting’ new romance, the response from critics hasn’t been quite as gushing.
The film, which hit UK cinemas on New Year’s Day, follows Almut and Tobias’ 10 year-romance through three timelines – the couple’s chance first meeting, a shock cancer diagnosis and its eventual devastating return.
Following its release yesterday, fans have been full of praise for the romantic drama, which has a non-linear structure, on X – likening it to cult films (500) Days of Summer and A Walk to Remember.
Posts included: ‘Wow… I’ve just finished watching We Live in Time with Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh and I’ve cried for the entire movie.
‘The subject is just… [gut-wrenching] the actors are so touching in their way of acting. Another movie with those great actors another great movie.’
While another dubbed it ‘enchanting and charming’, a third wrote: ‘Well I CRIED at We Live in Time sooo bad! Such a gorgeous yet heartbreaking movie;
‘Never want to watch We Live In Time again because i’m still actually really distressed by it but also want to show it to everyone i’ve ever met because it was incredible.’
However, the film – which was released in the US in October and set in South London and Surrey – has had a more muted reception from movie critics.
Read the full feature online at GQ Hype now
Giving it three stars, The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw confessed: ‘I wished I liked it more, having found it supremely watchable while not quite believing in any of it for a single moment.’
Dubbing it ‘One Day on shuffle’, the critic was full of praise for Pugh and Garfield’s ‘marvellous’ performances – but took issue with some of director John Crowley’s decisions.
He added: ‘I felt that the film was evasive about the uncinematic reality of what serious illness and death actually looks like.’
Similarly, The Independent’s chief film critic Clarisse Loughrey argued that the drama is ‘about as cosy as a film about cancer can be’.
Taking issue with the way the timelines jump around, the critic added: ‘Because of the way we leap in and out of these people’s lives, there’s usually very little sense of how Tobias and Almut mutate in the face of love, and [the director] overcompensates by pumping in slightly absurd conflicts to get his point across.’
Arguing We Live in Time ‘thinks it’s a more interesting film than it actually is’, the Huffington Post’s Marina Fang said the non-linear story-telling was the ‘only interesting feature’ of the film.
Read the full feature online at GQ Hype now.
