Emmy Winner, 72, Admits He Had a ‘Nervous Breakdown’ From Career Stress

Courtesy of USA Network Actor Tony Shalhoub, 72, revealed that early-career insecurities made him physically sick.

“I literally drove myself crazy because my life was so out of balance,” the four-time Emmy winner said on the Really Famous with Kara Mayer Robinson podcast on Wednesday.

“Even when I was doing alright or keeping my head above water, feeling like it wasn’t enough.” The Monk star said his fear of failing began to “manifest itself physically.” “I got very sick,” he said.

“I kind of had a mini breakdown, a nervous breakdown.

Physically, I was in poor health and psychologically, emotionally I was not in a good place.” “I was so consumed or kind of obsessed with clawing my way up whatever that ladder is.

I sort of succumbed to the stress of it all, and I was in a very unhealthy place,” Shalhoub admitted, adding that he was comparing his career to those of other people.

After performing in theater shows and on Broadway, Shalhoub scored his first regular TV role in NBC’s sitcom Wings , which ran from 1991 to 1997.

When the first episode of his crime show, Monk , premiered in 2002, Shalhoub was about to turn 49.

The hit show, in which he portrayed a brilliant detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder, ran for eight seasons, until 2009.

After guest-starring in Nurse Jackie and The Blacklist , among other roles, Shalhoub went on to star in all five seasons of the comedy series The Marvelous Mrs.

Maisel from 2017 to 2023.

“I think I was putting more focus and emphasis on the work at the expense of my relationships, my friendships, my physical health,” Shalhoub said of his early career.

His wife, actress Brooke Adams, 77, helped him turn his life around.

“I wasn’t really that confident or fully trusting.