The Office star Rainn Wilson opens up on living in a jungle as an ‘abandoned toddler’

The Office's Rainn Wilson has opened up on what it was like living as an ‘abandoned toddler’.

The 57-year-old - known for playing Dwight Schrute in the US comedy show - has recently shared the early struggles that came along with growing up.

Featuring on Steven Bartlett's The Diary Of A CEO podcast on 28 August, Wilson said that he was raised by father Robert G Wilson after his birth mother abandoned him before he turned two.

The father who worked as a science fiction writer died in 2020.

Before moving to Seattle, Washington, Wilson explained how he spent many years in a ‘literal’ jungle in Nicaragua as an ‘abandoned toddler kid’.

The actor described his living conditions with his dad and step mom as a ‘loveless shell’.

The Diary Of A CEO

"Abandoned toddler, that’ll f*** you up… and [there] was this weird gaslighting mind f***," Wilson told the podcast.

"I experienced a lot of pain in my life and a lot of suffering with anxiety and depression and addiction," he added.

"As I dove into recovery and the therapeutic process, I can pin that squarely on a lot of gross imbalances and trauma that I suffered as a child."

Speaking candidly about his mental health struggles, Wilson said: "There were times on The Office where I really struggled.

"Here I was on the greatest job I could ever imagine but I was [angry] that I couldn’t get more movies, and [more] deals.

"I spent a lot of unnecessary time in angst and anguish and discontent at a time when I should have just been enjoying it and drinking it in."

In a recent interview on 9 July, Wilson claimed he was 'really unhappy' during filming of the show.

"When I was in The Office, I spent several years really mostly unhappy because it wasn't enough," he said on Bill Maher's Club Random podcast.

"I’m realising I’m on a hit show, Emmy nominated every year, making lots of money, working with Steve Carell and Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski and these amazing writers and incredible directors like Paul Feig. I’m on one of the great TV shows. People love it."

Wilson added: "I wasn’t enjoying it. I was thinking about, ‘Why am I not a movie star? Why am I not the next Jack Black or the next Will Ferrell? How come I can’t have a movie career? Why don’t I have this development deal?'”

"When I was on The Office… I was making hundreds of thousands," Wilson said.

"I wanted millions. I was a TV star, but I wanted to be a movie star. It was never enough. Humans have lived for hundreds of thousands of years, and 'never enough' has helped us as a species.”

The Office ran from 2005 to 2013 and consisted of 188 episodes.