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The Office’s Rainn Wilson Says Childhood ‘Trauma’ Led to His Comedic Success: ‘Shift Your Perspective’
What doesn’t kill you makes you … funny? Rainn Wilson, who stole scenes as resident weirdo Dwight Schrute on The Office, recently opened up about his difficult childhood — and how surviving it fed his comedy. The 57-year-old shared that his mom left him when he was 2 and his dad entered a “loveless” marriage. Adherents of the Baha’i faith, his dad and stepmom would “rage” behind closed doors, then espouse the “unity” of all people, leaving Rainn traumatized. “Abandoned toddler, that’ll f–k you up, and there was this weird gaslighting mindf–k,” he noted in the “Diary of a CEO” podcast, adding that he later battled depression and addiction. After much therapy, he realized his suffering drove him. “There’s a reason why so many comedic greats come from painful backgrounds,” he reflected. “Because comedy is what you plug in to shift your perspective away from pain and trauma.”
