New Girl star Lamorne Morris has opened up about his struggles with depression during his TV career.
The 41-year-old actor, who starred in the hit sit-com alongside Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, and Max Greenfield, admitted he particularly struggled while filming the ‘Prince‘ episode, which saw the “Kiss” singer cameo as himself.
- READ MORE: The 20 best Prince songs of all time by the NME office
In the episode, which was broadcast in February 2014, Deschanel’s character Jess is invited to one of Prince’s mansion parties, which Morris’ character Winston and the rest of their housemates also manage to sneak into.
Despite naming the episode as one of his “favourite” New Girl instalments, Morris admitted it was the “worst episode to film” due to his mental health struggles.
Speaking on Podcrushed, the actor explained: “I just remember doing a scene, then going in my trailer and just crying for no reason.”
Morris revealed he struggled to understand why he was struggling because “everything was going great” in his life and career at the time.
“Work was going great. Everybody was healthy in my family. It was like, ‘What am I complaining about?’” he said. “I didn’t know. I couldn’t pinpoint it to anything.”
It was only when Morris’ then-girlfriend him change his diet and encouraged him to become more active that he noticed his mood had “shifted”
It was only when Morris’ then-girlfriend helped him change his diet, cooked him healthy foods and made him “fresh juice in the morning” that Morris noticed his mood had “shifted”. “Before I know it, those [depressive] days are over,” he said.
Morris added that he can now look back on working with Prince, who died two years after making his New Girl cameo, with fondness.
“There was so much fanfare around it and so much mystique around him,” he said. “And when you meet him, you’re like, ‘I see why. This man is illuminating. And he’s got so many tassels and zippers.’”
He continued: “He was so nice and just soft-spoken and very kind and gentle in the way he would talk to people. So that was a really cool experience.”
Just last week, fellow New Girl star Hannah Simone revealed that Prince only agreed to a cameo on the show because he had a “crush” on her.