Of all the actors/actress life stories I have read, I feel RJ Mitte had it the hardest.
A lot of people have answered Christopher Reeves, I agree, but Reeves had a normal life till the age of 42. It completely changed after that devastating accident that left him paralyzed for the next decade, till his death at the age of 52.
Now RJ Mitte didn’t had a baseline normal, his struggle started as soon as he was born. RJ Mitte was born with Cerebral palsy which is a lifelong neurological disorder causing poor muscle control, spasticity, unusual walking style etc.
From the age of 3 into his early teens he has had a dozen surgeries to improve mobility and had to wear night braces and leg casts, which led to him being bullied in highschool. He was constantly mocked for his gait and once a bully even broke his hand.
But despite his physical limits he started karate and mma, eventually earning a brown belt through grit and determination.
Just when it looked things were about to get better, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, causing severe blood sugar crashes which led to violent seizures even grand mal seizures leaving him bed ridden for days. This made him dependent on insulin and constant blood sugar monitoring.
Amid all the health crisis, his single mom Jennifer suffered stroke following a car crash, leaving her paralyzed and completely dependent. This made RJ who was around 13–14 at the time the primary breadwinner, caregiver for the family of 4 which included his two little sisters who were around 9 and 7.
Things finally took a brighter turn for him when he got the role in breaking Bad at the age of 16–17, this pushed his family out of poverty and enabled him to fund her mothers recovery.
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