Boris Kodjoe on taking care of his physical, mental and spiritual health: ‘I take time every single day to just be with myself’
Boris Kodjoe discusses his marriage, overall health and his partnership with the brand Depend and the Prostate Cancer Foundation to raise awareness about the disease.
Video Transcript
BORIS KODJOE: I'm getting to an age now where I'm the guy now holding the phone six feet away from my face so I can read what's on the screen. I'm the first one to admit that I didn't do a great job of taking care of myself. And I have family. And they depend on me. So I need to do that. Look, my best friend and mentor was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It reminded me that I needed to take care of myself. And the first step to do that is to talk about health issues. Obesity is a huge issue. It's a disease. We are what we eat. And I think that's also a challenge that a lot of us in the Black community have faced.
Exercise is a huge deal. And then also mindfulness. Taking care of our mental health is a huge issue, especially in the past two years facing these various pandemics, whether it was the viral pandemic or the social justice and equality pandemic. We need to start talking about racial disparities, like the lack of access to quality health care. These are all important issues that we need to address quickly because it could be lifesavers.
Well, I'm very excited to partner with Depend and the Prostate Cancer Foundation to stand strong for man's health. We are trying to create a forum for men to be able to talk about health issues such as prostate cancer. As Black men, we are 75% more likely to be diagnosed, twice as likely to die from the disease. Those are staggering numbers. We are facing a lot of things every single day. There's a lot of weight on our shoulders. But in order to take care of others, we've got to take care of ourselves first.
My wife and I, we are two individuals that are flawed, two individuals who have dealt with childhood traumas, just like anybody else. I had to dig deep and go back in time to figure out how my father living impacted me and what kind of patterns resulted from that and how as an adult I have coped or have not coped and what that means for me and my relationships.
Putting effort into yourself and then the relationship is a recipe that can maximize your potential as a couple. What brings me joy is taking care of myself and therefore being a better father, being a better husband. I take time every single day to just be with myself, whether it's my morning prayer and meditation or laying down and stretching in my trailer when I have 5 or 10 minutes between shots.
Work is therapeutic for me. It's a creative outlet. It's a way for me to represent what I feel, to represent who I am, to represent us. Historically, we've been sort of portrayed in one-dimensional ways. And I think that every role we take on try to make sure that you represent our culture in a way that shows how multi-dimensional we are. It's an outlet that I'm really grateful to have. And also, it contributes to the work-life balance, with my family at the top. We need to balance that out with habits that are actually good for ourselves, whether it's mental health, spiritual health, or our physical health, that will ensure that we're here for a longer time.
