A video clip posted to Twitter by Ramin Setoodeh, co-editor-in-chief of Variety, shows Fraser looking quite clearly overcome with emotion at the audience’s response. He’s always been a man who wears his feelings on full display, and wept openly throughout the ovation, per Variety. He even attempted to leave, but the audience was so enthusiastic he stayed longer to take a bow.

Fraser has every reason to become so emotional over his reception. Over the past two decades, his life has seen a lot of low points, both in his career and in his personal life. In 2018, Fraser give an in-depth interview with GQ, in which he discussed all the trauma he’d been through, both physical and mental. From being assaulted by a senior industry professional to public shaming to movie cancellations that left him heartbroken, he’s been through much more than most people might realize. It’s largely because of this that he has such a supportive fanbase and his response to being told this in an online meet-and-greet (via Indy100) shows it clearly means a lot to him. Emotional reactions like these are often the hallmark of someone who’s been through difficult times, and Brendan Fraser has had more than his fair share.

In the summer of 2022, Brendan Fraser returned triumphantly to the limelight with the movie “The Whale.” The premiere screened at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, where it received a six-minute standing ovation. A video clip posted to Twitter by Ramin Setoodeh, co-editor-in-chief of Variety, shows Fraser looking quite clearly overcome with emotion at the audience’s response. He’s always been a man who wears his feelings on full display, and wept openly throughout the ovation, per Variety. He even attempted to leave, but the audience was so enthusiastic he stayed longer to take a bow.

Fraser has every reason to become so emotional over his reception. Over the past two decades, his life has seen a lot of low points, both in his career and in his personal life. In 2018, Fraser give an in-depth interview with GQ, in which he discussed all the trauma he’d been through, both physical and mental. From being assaulted by a senior industry professional to public shaming to movie cancellations that left him heartbroken, he’s been through much more than most people might realize. It’s largely because of this that he has such a supportive fanbase and his response to being told this in an online meet-and-greet (via Indy100) shows it clearly means a lot to him. Emotional reactions like these are often the hallmark of someone who’s been through difficult times, and Brendan Fraser has had more than his fair share.

BRENDAN FRASER WAS OBJECTIFIED EARLY IN HIS CAREER

The film industry is rife with objectification and, as the World Economic Forum discusses, this overwhelmingly affects women, even in positions of power. Less discussed is the increasing trend of sexualizing men on-screen, as reported by The Economist. Actors have pointed out that this is no less demeaning, and one actor who was heavily objectified early in his career was Brendan Fraser. As GQ notes, a lot of the success in his early career involved going shirtless, particularly in one of his best-known early movies, “George of the Jungle,” in which he spent most of his screen time dressed only in a loincloth.

Fraser holds a less-than-stellar view of how he used to be portrayed, saying, “I look at myself then and I just see a walking steak.” All the same, he admits that this role as a buff but naive himbo was what ultimately earned his image as an action hero. All the same, the demands of this kind of role are exhausting and, according to The Digital Fix, this ultimately led Fraser to turn down a reprisal of the role in “George of the Jungle 2.” Simply, he didn’t want to put himself through that much physical stress a second time. While he may have passed over that role, however, the early objectification would ultimately stay with him, setting the stage for several of his later difficulties.

HIS ACTING CHOICES HAVE OFTEN REFLECTED HIS SELF-WORTH

Brendan Fraser’s personal life and feelings seem to have often influenced his acting work, and his early confidence shows through in one role which was almost his. In 2002, per a Yahoo Entertainment interview, he was in the running to play none other than Superman – and he was still clearly excited about dressing up as the hero, saying how it made him feel “kind of invincible.” Sadly for Fraser (and his fans), this movie would ultimately be canceled. Speaking with GQ, he took the cancellation to heart and was left feeling like a failure.

This was around 2003, when the incident with Philip Berk had also damaged Fraser’s sense of self-worth. He ended up taking a role in “Looney Tunes: Back in Action,” purely for the chance to portray the worst version of himself and then publicly punch himself in the face. In his own words, “I had it in my head that I had it coming.” Shortly afterward, feeling humiliated, Fraser largely retreated from public view. In times of difficulty, many people turn to their families for support, but Fraser would soon lose that option too. In 2009, he and his wife of a decade, Afton Smith, divorced, further derailing his career.

HE’S BEEN PUBLICLY BODY SHAMED

The objectification piled on Brendan Fraser in the earlier years of his career seemed to never really go away, and it continued to plague him well into the 2010s. Tabloid newspapers like the Daily Mail, well known for their mean-spirited celebrity gossip pieces, would periodically post unflattering photographs of him together with demeaning comments about his appearance. Via Shared, numerous websites like Gossip Mill skirted over the fact that Fraser was taking a beach vacation to enjoy spending some time with his children, and put the focus on his apparent weight gain.

Over the past decade, people have become increasingly aware of body shaming and its many deeply negative effects, with Psychology Today noting that it’s often linked specifically with fat shaming, using humiliation to exact a form of bullying. In more recent times, mercifully, body shaming has become increasingly unacceptable in the public eye, and many of Fraser’s fans have rallied to his support because of this. For example, one post on Tumblr (via Bored Panda) reposted a tabloid photo to make an insinuation about Fraser’s weight gain, only to be met with an outpouring of replies vigorously in defense of him.

What’s more, as Fraser later explained in an interview with GQ, at the time of all this celebrity gossip, he was actually unable to maintain an athletic physique because he was going through extensive health issues which required regular hospital visits.

BRENDAN FRASER WAS LEFT BEHIND BY THE WORLD

In 2016, Brendan Fraser’s appearance in an interview on AOL’s BUILD channel left many viewers concerned. Soft-spoken and seemingly downcast, the Sydney Morning Herald notes how fans worried that he was depressed. Speaking later with GQ, he explained how he probably didn’t even realize how he was feeling at the time, but during the interview, he was grieving the death of his mother. He also gives a quiet admission that he’d been keeping out of the spotlight for so long that it was a shock to the system to be back in the hotseat.

It had been some time since Fraser had made a formal press appearance, and the show he was promoting was one he’d barely featured in. What’s more, the format of the AOL show felt new and unfamiliar. In his own words, “I felt like: Man, I got f***ing old. Damn, this is the way it’s done now?” Seemingly, while he’d been mostly hidden from the public eye, the world kept on turning without him. Even “The Mummy,” the franchise he was most famous for, no longer involved him. As ScreenRant mentions, “The Mummy” (2017) is a reboot, with Fraser’s role having been recast to Tom Cruise.