Joe Pantoliano is opening up about his battle with mental health and the lifeline that kept him going—his dogs.
The Sopranos and Goonies star, 73, revealed in a recent interview that he spent nearly a decade battling undiagnosed clinical depression, resorting to self-medication and destructive habits in an attempt to cope.
“Alcohol, what was available, women, you know, risky behavior, act first and then ask questions second,” the actor told Page Six on Thursday.
Pantoliano, who played the volatile Ralph Cifaretto on HBO’s Emmy-winning The Sopranos, admitted he was a “mess for a long time” and attributed some of his problems to growing up with a mother who also suffered from mental health challenges.
He added that his relationships with his wife, actress Nancy Sheppard, and their children also got severely strained in the process. “My wife and my kids were ready to throw me out,” he admitted.
“The only people who were happy to see me weren’t people. They were my dogs,” the actor recalled.
The Last of Us star, who is currently starring in the off-Broadway show Ginger Twinsies, further credited his pups for saving his life.
“It was the only spark that was left in me. I was like Tinkerbell and the light was dying,” he explained.
Pantoliano finally received a clinical depression diagnosis in 2007. Two years later, he founded No Kidding, Me Too!, a nonprofit aimed at erasing the stigma around mental illness and encouraging others to seek help.
