Ryan Phillippe has opened up to Elle magazine about his personal journey with depression and the traits he sees in his 15 year old daughter Ava. 

‘You know, depression has been a huge obstacle for me ever since I was a child. As you get older I think it decreases some, but I’m just innately kind of a sad person,” Phillippe told Elle reporter.

“I see it in my daughter. She has it, and I wish to hell she didn’t.”

‘It’s just, some people do have this pervading sort of sadness, or they’re so analytical that they can kind of take the fun out of things because they think too much.’

The star wasn’t all dark and sad. He explained that most people don’t know his sense of humour. 

‘It’s a dark humor, like a gallows humor. I think that’s where, if you do carry any of that sadness or depression, your humor does tend to be a little darker than most people. 

‘And the greatest comedians do—trust me. I know so many of them. And they’re depressed and they’re dark and they have this incredible gift of humor to offer others and also, probably, therapeutically themselves.

Ryan is currently working on his miniseries ‘Secrets and Lies’ where he plays a family man who becomes a suspect in the murder of a little boy.