Ryan Reynolds 'Drifted Apart' From Late Dad Before His Passing: 'Something I'll Live With Forever'

Ryan Reynolds' relationship with his father became complicated as his father's battle with Parkinson's disease grew. The actor was 22 when his father, James Chester Reynolds, a former police officer, was diagnosed, He died in 2015 at age 74 after living with the disease for nearly 20 years. But Parksinson's isn't something Reynolds says his family spoke about, with him revealing he'd only heard the disease mentioned by his father maybe three times in his life.

According to the National Institute on Aging , Parkinson's disease is "a brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements, such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination. Symptoms usually begin gradually and worsen over time." There is currently no cure for the disease, but medication can assist with some symptoms.

But Reynolds says his father's symptoms were worse, noting that he struggled from hallucinations and delusions, two lesser-known symptoms of Parkinson's. "It really destabilized my relationship with him because I didn't really know what was happening," Reynolds told PEOPLE . He is currently working on the educational campaign More to Parkinson's , which offers resources to patients and caregivers.

He explained to PEOPLE that he became distant from his father due to the symptoms. "At the time I just thought, "My dad's losing his mind." My father was really slipping down a rabbit hole where he was struggling to differentiate between reality and fiction. And subsequently everyone else in his life was losing the bedrock faith and trust that they had on his point of view," he revealed.

The estrangement is something Reynolds regrets. "As I'm older now, I look back at it, and I think of it more as that was my unwillingness at the time to meet him where he was," he explains. "I could have maybe been there with him toward the end, and I wasn't. He and I just drifted apart, and that's something I'll live with forever."