The 'Pitch Perfect 2' director reveals her husband Max Handelman was so cautious of Covid-19 that he had panic attack when she dragged him to a grocery store amid pandemic.
- May 30, 2021
AceShowbiz - Elizabeth Banks' husband had a panic attack when she dragged him outside after he had spent 77 days in quarantine at their home.
The actress and director had no idea how cautious Max Handelman - her partner of 28 years - was until the COVID pandemic hit, and he refused to leave their home.
"First of all, I'm so grateful... COVID didn't affect our family particularly negatively, which was a real blessing, and the spending time together was really good," the "Charlie's Angels" filmmaker tells "Live with Kelly and Ryan".
"We've been together for 28 years and I've seen my husband have two panic attacks in our entire life together. One was the first time we signed mortgage papers, as you can imagine - you literally signed your life away..."
"(And then) he went about 77 days of the pandemic without leaving our house and I finally dragged him out to a Whole Foods (grocery store) at 8am on a Tuesday morning. I was like, 'No one will be there...' "
Although the place was "pretty empty," the excursion was still too nervewracking for Banks' husband.
"He started with the (anxiety) patches," she continues. "Someone had their mask down below the nose, that's a no-no for him. He was very cautious. I had just not seen him be that sort of cautious about anything. So I got in line to pay and we're standing the six feet apart but it was just too tight for him..."
She had to race her man home to safety but he's a changed person since then - because Max has now been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
"He's gradually coming through," she quips. "He needed the vaccine and it has really changed his life in a very positive way."
