As the host of hugely popular kids show Blue’s Clues, Steve Burns was all smiles in front of the camera, but was struggling with clinical depression off-screen.
From 1996-2001 Steve hosted the Nickelodeon series, which featured him acting alongside the animated puppy Blue.
But in 2001 he left the show after 100 episodes.
‘I didn’t know it yet, but I was the happiest depressed person in North America. I was struggling with severe clinical depression the whole time I was on that show,’ Steve has now told Variety.
‘It was my job to be utterly and completely full of joy and wonder at all times, and that became impossible.’
Another reason he said he left the show was that he thought he was getting too old.
Aged 29, he was starting to lose his hair and didn’t want to wear a wig.
‘I didn’t want to be boyish anymore,’ he added.
After leaving the series Steve said there was ‘a long period of healing’, but a decision to step away from the public eye also sparked rumours that he had died.
‘That rumour was so persistent and so indelible that I assumed it was a cultural preference. I eventually just took the hint. I kept my head down and left public life,’ he shared.
But in 2021, to mark the 25th anniversary of Blue’s Clues, he appeared in a video that was shared on Nickelodeon’s Twitter page, and fans couldn’t get enough.
The post was retweeted over 800,0000 times and had nearly two million likes.
Now, over two decades since leaving Blues Clues, Steve is returning to the franchise with the new movie Blue’s Big City Adventures, which follows the beloved pup heading to New York City to audition for a musical.
Blue’s Big City Adventures is streaming on Paramount Plus.
