Whatever happened to Benny Lewis? A personal update

I found out about you only this month while I was studying Learning How to Learn. Watching this video reminds me that it is essential to feel that it is okay not to be OK and toxic positivity. Huge respect for you 😊

You are a champion Benny! Thank you for articulating the most painful things in your life. It’s not how you are knocked down that matters really, it’s how you get up! You have helped me, and I am sure many others. Thanks again

Blessings Benny. God loves you. I'm glad you're doing much better. (Saw your more recent videos).

Very brave of you to post this video. I hope you're doing better today.

too much respect.
hope everything is better now, Benny

🤍❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤
Wish you much strength moving through all these challenges.
Everything was completely relatable and understandable, it makes sense how it would all come together.
Maybe one way to also think about it is, depression is our body's (maladapted) rest & recovery period.
Also really great way everything was communicated and put into words, honestly, vulnerably, and concisely.
Thanks, you do continue to inspire even now 🙂

Abraços do Brasil. Morei na Irlanda durante um ano e amooo seu conteúdo. Sou apaixonada pela sua terra natal e pela cultura Irlandesa. Você é muito querido 💖😘😘😘

That's some hard years. Thank you for your candor and vulnerability, we've all had a hard time in various ways but the details help us connect. Here's to solid footing on a good road to recovery!

Very brave, well spoken and needed sharing. Thank you, sir!

THANK YOU, Benny. Keep up the good work, brother! Un abrazo.

Thanks for this radical honesty, “that Benny Lewis guy”. I hope your recovery is even stronger now than when you posted this - when it was already showing major signs of growing strength.
Big blessings to ya!
❤

Best of luck. I bought your book when it was first published and really enjoyed it.

Massive respect for staying strong through so much suffering. Best wishes to you Benny

Been following your blog and videos since +10 years ago when I was into language learning.
Glad to hear you're back on track, remember, what has happened should stay in the past, chin up and keep up the good work and building things you care for.

Un abrazo desde Venezuela, Benny!

Benny,

I came across this video a few days ago as I was telling my girlfriend about how you inspired me way back, and wanted to show them some of your work (from roughly 10 years ago). At that time, I was a very typical monolingual dude from Ohio. I had recently lost my older brother and was in a very dark place. I had made a list of all the things that I wanted to spend more time doing as a means of making sure that I was living my life and not just floating along. I saw your video (the one with leprechauns) and thought for sure you were just selling some program I would eventually have to pay a ton of money for. I watched more and more of your stuff and was so inspired. I bought your book and took a ton of notes on how to start learning a language, knowing only a handful of words. I found language exchange partners from Spain and many other places around the world. Over the course of a few months I was having very broken Spanish conversations with those people. I got to know them, and even their families. It filled me with emotions I had never experienced before. I went on to find music, poetry, and eventually was so inspired that I left to backpack and even meet some of those people in person. They have become lifelong friends. After a few years I started learning other languages and found new groups online to meet people from other places and practice. All these sites were something I never knew existed before reading your book. Those conversations planted many seeds and pushed me to take a risk and visit places in the world that I never thought I would see.

Fast forwarding to today, I am working as a certified medical interpreter in San Diego. Whenever anyone asks why I speak Spanish or where I'm from, I feel compelled to mention your name and what you did for me. You literally changed my life and that change lead me to see more of the world and ultimately change how I see the world. I eventually came out of that dark place and found something beautiful to put my energy in to, which was languages and a drive to continue bettering myself a little bit each day. Even when I feel like I'm falling back down, I have a lifelong passion that now fills part of that big hole where there used to be only loss. I always thought I would get to meet you at a language conference or some event and be able to say thank you, but maybe this video was where I was meant to do that.

I truly thank you Benny. From the bottom of my heart. And more importantly, I want to say that there is a world full of people that don't see you for those feelings that probably feel like they are defining who you are at times. I have always seen you as an inspiration and nothing you're going through will change that. Please don't lose sight of how many people you've reached and what you've done for the world. This comment was not meant to talk about anything I've done, but more to let you know how much of an impact you've had in just one person's life. It is completely okay if you don't feel okay. That has nothing to do with who you are. And falling backwards on rough days does not mean that all of your progress doesn't count. It just means that you're human. I am sure you know all of this, but maybe the reminder will help. You have a ton of support out here. Don't forget that! All the respect in the world.

Jeremy Swint

Glad you are doing better 😀 that's the only thing that matters.

Great, positive message.... Keep up the good work.

Your courage and honesty demands respect. Stay strong!

Thanks for sharing, and I hope all's well. I'm a fellow linguist and ESL teacher. You've been a huge motivation for me to push my limits and refine my language learning process, and it's helped me to be a better teacher. Hope you have a great support group and can push through whatever pain you're dealing with because you're a great role model.

Hi Benny,

Life is full of good and bad moments. Sometimes the bad times are hard to get over.

I used to work as a manager, and I used to have a company. In those moments, I planned to grow economically and get married my ex-fiancee to make a family.

To make a long story short, after certain events, I finished living on the street for a weak in another country as a refugee (without anything and alone).

The point is that there is always a new day that allows you to restart again. It is like a new page.

What I did, was remember my life 15 years ago when I was a random person without a job, without company, without a fiancee, and it was all fine. I was happy.

Being honest with yourself is the best way to heal. Better days ahead and wish you well.

I feel nothing but admiration for you!!!

I genuinely was thinking ‘whatever happened to that Benny Lewis fella?’ But glad I found you to follow you again! Glad to see you on your recovery journey :)

Hey Benny, thanks for sharing! It must have been tough going through all that simultaneously. Hope life is better for you since posting this video.

Well done for being so brave, Benny. You will bounce back.

I have been divorced 3 times, worked 14 hours days and been bankrupt and recovered.

I think this is an awesome video. I thank you for your openness.

Just came across this video. Huge respect! Hope you are doing well.

I've known three men who were all gay, like me, and nothing made sense as to "why" they were single, suicidal, extremely unhappy but, financially successful on the income side. Hidden Debt, like you said. Well, turns out, all three of them need to be peed on or in to achieve orgasm, which is fnking disgusting. My point being, "it was something seriously intolerable and top secret". It took A LOT of pressing and pushing in efforts to help to discover WTF. Benny, is there something like this with you? Not the same but, you'll NEVER fix your life IF there is "this thing" no one knows about and, it's completely incompatible with 99.5% of potential mates, or lifestyle or whatever. You can't work enough, earn enough, be enough and no one can supplement against this "it" enough. Ever. No matter what "it" might be, "it" is a problem, get rid of it. Whatever kind of therapy it takes, do it. See, it's one thing to love vagina, right? It's totally another to love Vagina to pee all over you, or whatever the case, and I'm not suggesting! Secondly, I have NO IDEA how people stay married that just meet. I'm an astrologer and, I wouldn't dare even try with 6 of the 12. There's also a reason Vadic and Babylonian astrological relationships are 99% divorce proof. Look at India as only one example. I'm someone you can tell ANYTHING to and I'll never judge you or talk about you. NY? Dude, that was stupid. Seriously. Anyway, Benny Lewis, if I can help you, I'd do it for FREE and anonymous. I'm foremost a Christian but, I got nothing to preach and nothing to sell. I can teach you how to truly mean that middle finger with a smile. Aint no one gets to me. I care about you and I think your fluent in 3-months is total bullshit and I still like you.

I really appreciate you sharing all of this! I can relate! Thank you.

I hope you are feeling much better in 2022 and have resolved at least a few of the issues.

Hi Benny, firstly thank you for your video. I followed your missions back in the day and came back from time to time over the years to see if you had attempted any more. I could not have imagined the reasons for not having done so.

I see you have posted follow up videos to this which I am yet to watch, and I can offer no advice of my own regarding your situation, but I too am divorced, have had issues with my now ex-wife and our children for years, battled depression over the years and also let my interest in languages fall by the wayside. I met the woman of my dreams a while later but my failure to process my past and to be open about my difficulties ultimately doomed that relationship too. My previous level of "manageable" depression immediately plummeted which caused me to behave out of character and to get into some trouble. It is now two years later and I'm still on the heaviest dosage of multiple medications as you describe above and only now coming to terms with where my life has taken me. I've had counselling, long chats with friends and family and ever so slowly have seen flashes of light amongst the darkness. Why am I writing this? Well, empathy really. I have been in the same place you have been and I know exactly how soul destroying it can be to remain there. It seems for all the progress we have made as a society over the recent decades, it is still a taboo for young men to open up about their mental health difficulties. I know it was for me. Until it was too late. And for that I lost everything I held dear. So it takes a tremendous amount of courage to upload a video like this considering your previous content was so driven by positivity, and you should be commended for it. As I say, I have no words of advice but wish you all the best in your recovery and a positive future. Tom

Benny, thank you so much for sharing your struggles. It's really brave of you to open up so much about what you've been through, in an online world so obsessed with being perfect and happy all the time. I'm really happy you made it through and came out so much stronger. Keep doing what you love and keep inspiring people with your amazing, authentic content. I wish we were all as open and brave about our struggles as you are.
Warm greetings from a former Fi3m team member

Wow, this is so much. I hate to think that you might have went through all of this alone. Sending you strength and love.

Love and respect to you benny! Coming out like this, and being vulnerable and honest with yourself is incredibly eye opening and admirable.
Seeing you grow so much the past years is very motivating and inspiring as well, no idea you were going through such struggles.

Wish you the best of luck and feel free to reach out anytime that you need to remember the best version of yourself!

Good luck! Thank you for sharing your story with us. 👋

Pat yourself on the back for sharing all this and for getting through it all. That took a LOT of courage on both counts. Stay strong.

You're an inspirational Benny, thanks for sharing.

Peace love and light to you good sir. You have inspired countless people, including myself. It's great to see you back.

It takes a strong man and a big heart to open up publically as you did. You're an amazing person and we appreciate you, Benny.

Very honest video. Thank you. I wouldn't wish divorce on my worst enemy. There is a reason why God hates it.

Hold your head up...you aren't the first and. You won't be the last...stay strong, young man.

Bon courage à toi Benny. Tu m'as tellement aidé avec l'apprentissage des langues… bravo pour tout ce que tu as accompli ! Держись !

you will be the phoenix rising from the ashes,

I’ve never heard of you, I’ve never had a strong interest in foreign language. I don’t know why your video popped up out of nowhere but it was needed. Thank you.

It does take an ENORMOUS amount of courage on your part to post such a personal, honest, open update about what you’ve been going through over the past few years since you last made any content for your YT channel. Fair play to you, for plucking up the gumption to do it and being a person who can actually be of help to someone facing similar issues that you faced. You actually are able to give those folks some hope that it is surmountable, and that they’re not alone in what they’ve been dealing with. That is HUGE in my book, as you really are giving insight into those issues to people who need it desperately at a time when they need it the most.

I’m a very/recent subscriber and actually only came upon your channel by chance, but once I saw your videos about how we say things and their meanings that only the Irish, or people like me who are Irish by nationality, even if their ethnicity is not Celtic based (in my case it’s Indian as my parents are from India, but they then settled (🙄obviously) in Ireland where we grew up). You had me laughing so much when you were talking to the American chap in NYC about our colloquialisms and what they actually mean as opposed to what they might sound like they mean. 😂🤣😂 He wasn’t too bad at all, even if you did make it ridiculously easy for him to guess from the context of the example. 🤣

Anyway, good luck to you in the future, and I hope you keep going onward and upwards in your personal growth journey getting back eventually to your typical optimistic self. I am looking forward to seeing more content from you as you navigate through that journey.

Take Care, and Stay Safe, Happy & Healthy. 😊
Thx,
IndoÉireannGirl - AKA - Swapna (my actual name).😊

Benny, I've literally only just come across your channel (actually drawn in from the how to pronounce Irish names) and all I can say is BRAVO! As tears trickle down my cheeks because not only do I understand the courage it takes to open up like that, but what you said about being optimistic and pricing yourself on it then having to realize and accept you're depressed as well......that hit so close to home for me personally. I'm still trying to figure it all out, and currently on the hunt for an excellent therapist. Thank you so much for sharing. I'm going to explore your channel some more and hope to find some more on the Irish language. Stay strong and keep up the good work on yourself.

You’re still adorable and I still tink ur wicked kool! Me too, me too, me too…. Arghh!

Much love and respect Benny