--- title: Emma Stone Reveals She Used to Have Anxiety, Panic Attacks description: Emma Stone is one of Hollywood's brightest young stars, but part of her process was born out of challenges as a child with anxiety. canonical: https://time.com/4611066/emma-stone-on-anxiety/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-21T20:41:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:42.472Z og:title: Here's How Emma Stone Remedied Her Anxiety og:description: The 'La La Land' star used to suffer from panic attacks og:url: https://time.com/4611066/emma-stone-on-anxiety/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Emma Stone Remedied Her Anxiety twitter:description: The 'La La Land' star used to suffer from panic attacks twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's How Acting Helped Emma Stone Deal With Her Anxiety  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 21, 2016 8:41 PM UTC  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 21, 2016 8:41 PM UTC [Emma Stone](http://time.com/4588811/emma-stone-all-that-audition/) has become one of Hollywood’s brightest young stars in recent years, but part of her process was born out of challenges she encountered [as a child with anxiety](http://time.com/4546993/teen-depression-and-anxiety-what-parents-can-do/). In an interview for her cover of [_Rolling Stone_](http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/features/rolling-stone-cover-story-on-la-la-land-star-emma-stone-w456742), the [_La La Land_ ](http://time.com/4588441/emma-stone-la-la-land-interview/)star revealed that she suffered from panic attacks and crippling bouts of anxiety as a kid. “My anxiety was constant,” she said. “I would ask my mom a hundred times how the day was gonna lay out. What time was she gonna drop me off? Where was she gonna be? What would happen at lunch? Feeling nauseous. At a certain point, I couldn’t go to friends’ houses anymore – I could barely get out the door to school.” Stone’s parents recognized that she needed help, getting her a therapist which she says “helped so much.” However, another way that she coped with her anxiety was through performing — participating in theater and improv groups to nurture an early love of comedy that would prepare her for the hilarious roles she would have later in life with _Easy A_ and _Superbad_. “I started acting at this youth theater, doing improv and sketch comedy,” Stone said. “You have to be present in improv, and that’s the antithesis of anxiety.” Emma Stone Reveals She Used to Have Anxiety, Panic Attacks ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4611066/emma-stone-on-anxiety/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4611066/emma-stone-on-anxiety/"},"headline":"Here's How Acting Helped Emma Stone Deal With Her Anxiety","datePublished":"2016-12-21T20:41:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:42.472Z","description":"The 'La La Land' star used to suffer from panic attacks","url":"https://time.com/4611066/emma-stone-on-anxiety/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Mental Health","celebrity","Emma Stone","Culture","la la land"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4611066/emma-stone-on-anxiety/","name":"Here's How Acting Helped Emma Stone Deal With Her Anxiety"}}]}] ```