Tom Holland to take a break from acting after latest show 'broke' him

Mental health has evidently become the top priority of Tom Holland, as the actor has decided to take a year off from acting following his upcoming crime thriller The Crowded Room. 

In the Apple TV+ mini series, Holland plays the role of Danny Sullivan, a mysterious man who was arrested for a shooting incident in Rockefeller Center in 1979. According to Entertainment Weekly, the show is inspired by the true story of Billy Milligan aka "The Campus Rapist," who was committed several crimes, including an armed robbery and rape of three students at the Ohio State University.

Apart from playing the controversial character, Holland was tied up with the film as its executive producer. Because there were a lot of things on his slate during the film's production from March to September of last year, the actor would look back on the experience as "a tough time."

He opened up about this in his recent interview with Extra, where he said, "We were exploring certain emotions that I have definitely never experienced before. And then on top of that, being a producer, dealing with the day-to-day problems that come with any film set, just added that extra level of pressure."

While the Spider-Man star "loved the learning curve of becoming a producer," swinging between two major roles in the show's production is an act he considers strenuous.

"I’m no stranger to hard work. I’ve lived by the idea that hard work is good work. Then again, the show did break me," he continued.

"There did come a time where I needed a break and disappeared and went to Mexico for a week and had time on a beach and laid low. I’m now taking a year off, and that is a result of how difficult this show was. I am excited to see how it turns out. I feel like our hard work wasn’t in vain.”

In his interview with Entertainment Weekly last May, the actor said that the role of Danny gave him a better understanding of his mental health.

According to Variety. Billy Milligan, whose Danny's fictional character is based, was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder.  

Holland continued, Learning about mental health and the power of it, and speaking to psychiatrists about Danny and Billy's struggles, has been something that has been so informative to my own life."

He said the experience helped him " recognize triggers" and "things that stress me out" like social media.