Cole Sprouse Reveals How He Handled His Own Struggles With Anxiety

Cole Sprouse is opening up about his own struggles with anxiety in a recent interview.

While speaking of Jughead’s motion to run for class president on Riverdale with US Weekly, the 25-year-old actor revealed that it took a lot of Jughead to get over his social anxiety, just like he personally did.

“It was kind of a big character moment for Jughead because it’s him saying, ‘I’m no longer afraid of a public platform. How do you feel about me doing something like this? Will you help me with this?’” he shares.

“He’s a kid in season one that had a ton of social anxiety and is figuring out how to navigate through that. Announcing he wants to be president is kind of big for his anxiety.”

Cole adds of his own struggles: “I had some pretty bad social anxiety when I was little just because I was raised in celebrity culture, and feeling watched all the time, and at least for me — and I can only really speak from personal experiences — I didn’t really get over it until I sort of put my hand into the fire and said, ‘OK, this is something I’ve got to live with. Let’s deal with it.’”

“I went to New York, I lived in the city, I was in one of the most populated places on Earth and just kind of embraced who I was, how people viewed me and how I navigate other people. I think at some point I asked myself, ‘Do I ignore the pink elephant, or do I address that it’s there and just continue to live my life?’ And I think Jughead’s doing that as well.”