‘Parks and Rec’ Alum Adam Scott is Bringing Awareness to Mental Health

During these unprecedented times, we have all had to adapt to new ways of living rather quickly. We went from being able to lead our normal lives, travel, and see friends and family to working remotely, staying inside, and basically living a very limited life (with masks on). While many have looked (and found) some bright sides to this global pandemic, there is also a lot of hardship. 

Mental health, while always important, has taken on new life during this health crisis. With people losing their jobs, feeling isolated, and coping with the anxieties of losing loved ones (or fear of losing loved ones), there is a very real threat to everyone’s mental health. 

To help brighten up people’s moods and also help gain donations to Feeding America, the cast of beloved NBC comedy, Parks and Recreation, reunited for a one-night special reunion episode. One of the most popular and beloved characters, Ben Wyatt, played by Adam Scott, looked a bit disheveled during the reunion and made fans wonder what happened to the actor and if he’s okay. Turns out — he was just bringing more awareness to mental health.

The Parks and Rec reunion, which was called "A Parks and Recreation Special,” featured the entire cast in all their glory. 

Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Nick Offerman, Adam Scott, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Rob Lowe, Retta, and Jim O'Heir all joined in on the reunion. We even got a glimpse of Paul Rudd as Bobby Newport. 

The show opens with Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler and Ben Wyatt, played by Adam Scott checking in with each other via video chat. He’s at home with their kids, and she was somewhere else working. He's a representative in Congress and she works for the Department of the Interior. 

There are many tongues in cheek mentions to the things he's done to amuse himself during lonely moments in the past, like the Claymation experiment he made when he was unemployed and depressed. Many fans recalled the epic and hilarious, “Could a depressed person make this?” line that Ben delivers and couldn’t help but connect the moments. One Twitter user wrote, “this is my favourite thing to ever happen? @mradamscott thank you so much."

Adam Scott donned a bit more of a disheveled look during the reunion, donning long hair and beard. This could obviously be an effect of social distancing and not having access to a barber or hairstylist, but other fans were a bit worried. One user commented, “Has anyone checked in on @mradamscott in a while? He's... Um... He's not lookin' super great...Everything OK, buddy? #ParksAndRec”. 

Turns out, Adam just wanted to shine a light on the need to address mental and emotional health at a time like that. A lot of people’s depression can manifest in many different ways and he wanted to bring awareness to mental health issues.