Ryan Reynolds says Parkinson’s most unexpected symptoms made him think his dad was ‘losing his mind’

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When Ryan Reynolds’ father, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease nearly 30 years ago, began having delusions, the actor didn’t know what to think. 

"It really destabilized my relationship with him because I didn’t really know what was happening," the 47-year-old admitted to People magazine recently. 

He added, "At the time I just thought, ‘My dad’s losing his mind.’ My father was really slipping down a rabbit hole where he was struggling to differentiate between reality and fiction. And subsequently everyone else in his life was losing the bedrock faith and trust that they had on his point of view. There would be conspiratorial webs that he would spin about ‘this is happening’ and that ‘these people might be after me’ or ‘this person is out to get me.’ And just stuff that was such a wild departure from the man that I grew up with and knew."

Delusions and hallucinations are not an uncommon symptom of the disease, which affects around 20% to 40% of patients, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation. 

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When Ryan Reynolds’ father, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease nearly 30 years ago, began having delusions, the actor didn’t know what to think.  (E. Neitzel/WireImage)

Reynolds’ father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1995 and lived with it until he died in 2015. Reynolds was just 22 when his father was diagnosed.

"He said the word ‘Parkinson’s’ maybe three times as far as I knew — and one of them wasn’t to me. There was a ton of denial, a ton of hiding," Reynolds explained of his father, who was a strong, silent type. 

"My father was a man who does not share his feelings," he continued. "He was a boxer, a cop, a hard-a--. I can’t even recall ever really having a proper conversation with my father. He was a present father, never missed a football game, but he just didn’t have the capacity to feel, or at least share, the full spectrum of human emotion a bit. And pride was just so ingrained in him that it dictated almost everything that he did." 

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Reynolds’ mother Tammy was James’ chief caregiver, which forced to live a "life of true isolation with my dad for many, many years," Reynolds said. "And when somebody is not necessarily speaking from their baseline or right mental state, they can make life really tough for the only person [there]. My mom was a backboard for my father during that time, but it really broke her."

He called caregiver fatigue "very real — it’s one of probably the most unreported side effects of diseases like this. I wish the resources that are available now to treat that part of Parkinson’s existed, or at least we knew about it then, because it would’ve really given a lot of hope."

In a video he made for the campaign "More to Parkinson’s," Reynolds revealed "no one warned" him or his mother about the mental effects of the disease despite being more prepared for its physical deterioration. 

Ryan Reynolds with his mom Tammy in 2022.  (Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)

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"It was brutal on him and on me and the boys," Tammy Reynolds said in the video. Ryan Reynolds has three older brothers. 

The "Deadpool & Wolverine" star told People his father’s delusions and hallucinations began to appear about 10 years after his diagnosis, and it complicated their already difficult relationship. 

"I’m constantly putting pieces of the story together," he said of their relationship. "I wasn’t really accepting my own responsibility. It was very easy for me to dine off the idea that my father and I do not see eye to eye on anything and that an actual relationship with him is impossible. And as I’m older now, I look back at it, and I think of it more as that was my unwillingness at the time to meet him where he was. I could have maybe been there with him toward the end, and I wasn’t. He and I just drifted apart, and that’s something I’ll live with forever." 

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While he deeply regrets not being with his father when he died, he’s glad he wrote him a letter five months before. 

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively with daughters James and Inez in 2016.  (Getty)

"There were many moments [of connection]," he told People. "I sent my dad a letter about five months before he died, which I’m very grateful I did. The letter was basically a list of every amazing thing he ever did — every time he showed up or every time he had a catch with me outside after baseball practice. Every time he just was there. And if the man couldn’t express his emotions in a way that was dynamic, well, many people can’t. The guy was born in the ’40s. It’s okay. So, I’m super grateful that I sent that letter. I know for a fact it meant the world to him. So, I did get that closure, but I wasn’t with him when he passed away, and I do wish I was."

Reynolds is now a father of four himself, sharing James, 9, Inez, 7, Betty, 4, and Olin, 1, with wife Blake Lively.

James, a girl, is named for her grandfather. 

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"The healing for me really comes more through my relationship with my own kids, while taking some of the things from my father that are of immense value," he told People. "My dad had incredible integrity. He did not lie. [Now] I get to fill in those little gaps that maybe hurt me. I get to show up. When my kid is acting out or telling me I’m the worst — my dad would retreat into the power of silence, and that is not the way to acknowledge your kid. So to be able to get down on their level and just tell them that I believe them and that I’m here for them . . . I’m like, "Oh, okay. I just weirdly didn’t mean to, but I fixed something with my own dad."