Jared Padalecki takes selfie at Comic Con 2015
Jared Padalecki was moved to tears during the Supernatural panel at Comic-Con when fans organized a massive show of support for his Always Keep Fighting Campaign.
Padalecki attended the panel alongside co-stars Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins and Mark Sheppard, and was completely surprised to see that the over 6,000 attendees in Hall H had prepared something special just for him. When the panel opened up to Fan Q&A, thousands of fans stood, turned on electric tea lights and held them up as a show of support for Padalecki and Always Keep Fighting.
Padalecki was confused at first, until an aid rushed onstage and handed him a candle and a card that explained the gesture. “I didn’t know at first what it was. I had no idea. …I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’ At first, I thought people were holding their iPhones up and like recording. And then, as I looked… I was like, ‘Wait, these are lights.’ And then someone dropped off a light, with the note and explaining what it was,” Padalecki told Access Hollywood after the panel.
“It’s still humbling to me, you know? …It’s very much what Supernatural’s about – this family that it’s – the sum is greater than its parts, so it’s humbling to be a part of something that’s grown and is affecting people,” Padalecki added. In video from the panel, Padalecki is clearly overcome with emotion, and he later confessed, “It took everything in my power not to cry.”
All lights were handed out for free while fans waited in line for Hall H along with a card with instructions as well as a message of hope: “Everyone is given a candle that burns just for them. When your flame flickers and you fear it will go out, know not seven the strongest wind lasts forever; and there are other lights to guide you even in the Darkness… And when your candle burns bright, you can ignite the hearts of others and hope will spread like wildfire… Always Keep Fighting, and you’ll never fight alone.”
Padalecki started the Always Keep Fighting campaign in March after revealing his personal experience with depression, launching a t-shirt campaign to benefit the charity To Write Love On Her Arms, which helps those struggling with mental illness, depression and thoughts of suicide. In May, Padalecki abruptly took time off to recharge and be with his family, worrying some fans, but returned better than ever at Comic-Con. “I just want to say thank you, so much. It’s stuff that I have dealt with and I’m still dealing with so it means so much to me. I hope the fans feel support from me the way I feel support from them. I love them all very much. I really do. Fight for each other. Love each other. Always keep fighting,” Padalecki told E! News as a message to the fans.
Padalecki wasn’t the only one surprised and moved by the fans’ show of support. Ackles, who plays Padalecki’s brother in Supernatural, said he was completely floored by the gesture. “I was like, ‘What is going on? What is happening right now?’ But it’s just this continuing thing. I’m astonished at the support that these fans give Jared and give us on the show, day in and day out. And it just seems to keep growing on both sides. Jared and I talk about it, Misha and I talk about it, we all talk about this relationship that has formed between the fans and us,” he told E! News.
Padalecki walked away with a little light of his own, and he wants to know fans that he’ll use it when he needs some support. “For me, the Always Keep Fighting campaign was not lip service. It’s real. It’s something I go through… so for me, I hope the fans feel the support from me that I feel from them. I mean, I still haven’t yet grasped it, but I’ll keep my little light forever and I’ll use it when I need to,” he promised.
Padalecki addressed the fans directly in a Facebook post on Monday, thanking “everybody that had ANY part whatsoever in the Always Keep Fighting Hall H tea light event.”
“I am beyond moved. I feel so blessed, and grateful, and honored to be a part of the magical Supernatural Family,” Padalecki wrote.
The actor, who also shared a photo of his own tea light, added a heartfelt thanks to his fans and supporters: “Thank you. From the bottom of my heart and my soul, thank you so much. I will never forget this day. I will never forget the love that I felt, and still feel. And, to everybody who held a light for me, please know that I hold my light for you. Though I happened to be the one sitting on stage, I am but one small light in a [sea] of thousands. TOGETHER, we can and will make a difference! Keep letting your light shine. I will do the same. And, keep fighting. Always Keep Fighting.”
A thank you. To anybody and everybody that had ANY part whatsoever in the Always Keep Fighting Hall H tea light event….
Posted by Jared Padalecki on Sunday, July 12, 2015
You can watch the sweet moment below at the 34-minute mark.
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