The awesome Wentworth Miller

This is Wentworth Miller.

He's an actor, most recognisable - or at least to me - for the 2005 show Prison Break. To be honest, that's the only thing I was really aware of him doing and I wasn't even a particular fan of that show about, you guessed it, a prison break. (Unless it's got romance in it, I'm not likely to be interested!)

Anyway, since Prison Break ended in 2009, I hadn't heard anything about him since. Until today that is.

Today I was made aware of a Facebook post a group called Lad Bible had placed on their page.

Now, I don't want to be as mean as I will soon tell you that the Lad Bible were, but I can't help but feel that nothing good can come of a site who states: "One of the largest communities for guys aged 16-30 in the world. Send us your funniest pictures and videos!" But anyway...

 Yesterday, this appeared on their Facebook page:

Yeah - hilarious, right? Can't wait to see the rest of their 'funny' content. *rolls eyes*

But did Wentworth get mad and stoop to the same level as Lad Bible? Oh no - he took the high road and what a bloody awesome high road he took.

How powerful. How inspiring. Yet how absolutely heartbreaking. If I can say anything positive about my own struggle, at least I don't have to do it with the eyes of the world watching me and just waiting for me to slip up or show weakness. And as he says, he dealt with that watching and waiting without anybody even knowing what he was going through.

Now, I do offer a teeny, tiny bit of kudos to Lad Bible for offering this apology.

 
...but, I do have to say that I can't help but feel that they're only offering this apology because Wentworth confessed to his mental health issues.

If, for example, he hadn't said anything, or if he'd mentioned he'd hurt his ankle, couldn't get to the gym and that was the 'reason' for his weight gain - would that have warranted an apology?

I somehow doubt it.

No, mental health is not a joke or a laughing matter. And no, causing pain or distress is not acceptable.

But it's not acceptable to cause pain or distress to ANYONE. To make fun of ANYONE. For ANY reason.

So, I think that there are two lessons to be learned from this:

1) You never know what anyone else is going through so measure your words - and your social media posts - carefully

and

2) Wentworth Miller is someone we can all look up to as an amazing human being.


If you need help with any mental health issues, please visit my FAQ page for links and telephone numbers.