Michael B. Jordan said playing Killmonger in last year’s “Black Panther” led him to seek therapy.
The actor, 31, was interviewed for Oprah’s “SuperSoul Conversations” podcast, which will be released in full March 24. According to him, the process of getting into the villain’s character took a toll on him.
“I spent a lot of time alone,” Jordan said. “I figured Erik [Killmonger], his childhood growing up was pretty lonely. He didn’t have a lot of people he could talk to about this place called Wakanda that didn’t exist.”
However, once filming finished, he had trouble readjusting to his normal life.
» Barack Obama shares his favorite songs, movies and books in 2018
"I shut out love. I didn't want love," Jordan said according to a USA Today transcription. "I wanted to be in this lonely place as long as I could."
Jordan chose to see a therapist, despite the social stigma, and said it helped him.
“Honestly, therapy, just talking to somebody just helped me out a lot,” he said. “As a man you get a lot of slack for it… I don’t really subscribe to that. Everyone needs to unpack and talk.”
The actor said he sent himself into such a dark place in order to do his character justice.
» What Michael B. Jordan had to give up for "Black Panther"
“It’s an extreme, exaggerated version of the African diaspora from the African-American perspective, so to be able to take that kind of pain and rage and all those emotions that Erik kind of represents from being black and brown here in America… that was something I didn’t take lightly,” Jordan said.