By 1991, Candy was a successful movie star and co-owner of a Canadian Football League team. On the outside, he was on top of the world. In reality, he was fighting invisible battles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked a lot about his psychological health and the pressures that he had and was trying to learn what caused that in his life,\u201d friend Kelvin Pruenster said in the new documentary John Candy: I Like Me<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the documentary, friends and family candidly spoke about the struggles Candy went through in the final years of his life. In airports and on movie sets, he suffered panic attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cHe started to have crippling chronic anxiety. He would have it for the whole day,\u201d Pruenster said, adding that uneasiness sometimes kept the actor from sleeping. \u201cHe really suffered and needed to find out what it was about, and did not want to go the medication route. He wanted to understand what was happening to him.\u201d<\/p>\n In airports, he suffered panic attacks as fans mobbed him for pictures and autographs.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was in therapy. He would share with me what he learned about the root of anxiety and what causes it,\u201d Pruenster said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t talk about it, but so many people suffer from it.\u201d<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. <\/p>\n Candy\u2019s son, Christopher, went into treatment for himself as a direct result of his father\u2019s struggles.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up with someone who was already a successful actor, who had made it. The thing that was so big and such a big secret was that he didn\u2019t believe in himself,\u201d his son says in the doc, later adding, \u201cPeople keep their therapy private, or they used to, at least, and now a lot of people talk about it, but I\u2019m very honored to say that my father is the reason that I\u2019ve been in treatment. I\u2019ve been able to work on myself because he went into therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n Joan Adlen\/Getty Images<\/p>\n John Candy receives the Founders Award rom the Scleroderma Research Foundation in 1991.<\/p>\n Steve Martin<\/a>, who starred opposite Candy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles<\/a>, said he worried about his pal\u2019s health. Rose Candy, the Uncle Buck star\u2019s wife, said she often worried about the stress on his heart, primarily due to the actor\u2019s large frame.<\/p>\n When it came to changing his lifestyle, though, Candy wasn\u2019t always ready. Eugene Levy<\/a> recalled the Home Alone actor disassociating from a friend who worried about his weight.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember John going through doctors like cigarettes,\u201d friend Dave Thomas said in the documentary. \u201cA doctor would tell him, \u2018You gotta lose weight, you gotta stop drinking.\u2019 John didn\u2019t want to hear that.\u201d<\/p>\n Candy died in 1994 at 43<\/a> after suffering a heart attack.<\/p>\n John Candy: I Like Me<\/a> premieres on Amazon Prime on October 10.<\/p>\n![\"Joan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/23f722021a49b814b3ecc7b17543cd4c.jpeg\"\/)
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