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Basinger’s own path has been far from serene. In 2022, she admitted that for years she had struggled with severe agoraphobia, which is defined as an anxiety disorder involving fearing and avoiding places or situations that can cause panic and a feeling of being stuck, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“I wouldn’t leave the house, I wouldn’t go to dinner…,” she said of the debilitating condition.

She added, “I had to learn to drive again,” explaining, “everything made me nervous.”

Basinger added, “Everything made me nervous, like the glass sliding to open the door, or, ‘Where do I step to open the door?’ Everything became a big job to figure out how to do it. You live with a dry mouth all the time, you’re very shaky, you’re just so exhausted all the time.”

The condition left her housebound for months and was a huge change from the sexpot persona she developed in the 1980s, thanks to roles in 9½ weeks alongside Hollywood wild man Mickey Rourke as a dominant businessman.