Patrick J. Adams may have become a household name as Mike Ross on Suits, but behind the sharp suits and genius persona lies a story far more human—and far more complicated. While his on-screen charm won over millions of fans, Adams’ real-life struggles have shaped the man he is today. From career roadblocks to personal demons, read on to learn more about Patrick J. Adams and his journey of resilience, redemption, and raw honesty.
A Rocky Path to Stardom
It’s easy to assume that Patrick J. Adams’ career was all smooth sailing after landing the role of Mike Ross, but the reality was far from glamorous. Before Suits came along, Adams found himself stuck in a cycle of near-misses and letdowns. An indie film role fresh out of college seemed promising—until the production company went bankrupt, leaving him stranded in Alberta, Canada. “I was stuck in Red Deer, Alberta, they wouldn’t even fly us home,” Adams shared with the Cape Cod Times.
Later, he landed a TV show gig, only to have the project crumble around him. Reflecting on that experience, he revealed, “I probably would be addicted to painkillers and just really unhappy, if that whole thing had worked out. It was not a great show, and it fell apart.” Just as things looked bleak, Suits arrived like a lifeline. “I was pretty miserable. Everybody on my team was trying to find a great project that would pull me out of the hole that I was in, and along came Mike Ross.”
Struggles with Alcohol Behind the Fame
The success of Suits came with a price. Behind the scenes, Adams was struggling with alcohol, a coping mechanism for the stress and pressures of Hollywood. By the seventh season, his drinking had reached a breaking point. “I wasn’t taking good care of my mental health, and I was drinking too much [at] the end of Season 7,” Adams admitted on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s on Me podcast. “I was in a zone of living a pretty unexamined life. Pretty miserable [and], I would say, pretty depressed. I didn’t have the tools to deal with that depression beyond just spending money and drinking too much and not really knowing how to talk about it.”
Adams realized that his habits weren’t just affecting his mental health—they were making him miserable. He had been staying on the show for the paycheck but knew deep down that it was time to leave. “It’s time to go home and do some work and change some things up,” he shared.
