Angus T. Jones is suffering through what friends say appears to be a nervous breakdown as he struggles to step away from the character he played for more than a decade on Two And A Half Men.
The 19-year-old actor has been seen looking disheveled and sporting a scruffy beard . He also appeared to have dropped a lot of weight since the show ended, leading friends and those close to Jones to worry about where he could be headed.
Angus T. Jones famously spoke out against Two And A Half men in November 2012, appearing in a YouTube video with Seventh-Day Adventist preacher Christopher Hudson to criticize the show’s racy nature.
“Please stop watching it. Please stop filling your head with filth,” said Jones, who at that point was making $300,000 per episode.
At the time of his YouTube outburst, Jones seemed to have the support of former co-star Charlie Sheen, who himself feuded with show creator Chuck Lorre.
“I dare anyone to spend 10 years in the laugh-track that is Chuck Lorre’s hive of oppression and not suffer some form of an emotional tsunami,” Sheen said at the time.
Nina Tassler, the president of entertainment at CBS, also seemed sympathetic to Jones. She excused his rant as the typical outburst of a 19-year-old.”[Jones has] been a beloved member of that cast for years and years and he issued a public apology. At the end of the day, they want him back and he wants to come back and that’s it.”CBS recently renewed the show for another season , but said that Angus T. Jones will come back with a smaller role and won’t be considered a series regular.In the months since making the video, Jones has distanced himself from the church at the urging of his parents, Kelly and Carey Jones. But friends say Angus T. Jones is trying to leave more in the past than just his involvement with the church. “He seems to be a shadow of himself and desperate to get away from the looks that made him a global star and very wealthy,” said the friend.Another friend added that Angus T. Jones appears to be having a nervous breakdown as he desperately tries to distance himself from the show and his character, Jake Harper.