Owen Wilson was reportedly under a “cloud of depression” on the run up to his suicide attempt at the weekend.

Owen is currently in hospital receiving treatment after taking an overdose of pills (believed to be Oxycodone) and slashing at his wrists at his home in Santa Monica on Sunday morning. The local police department have confirmed they treated it as a suicide attempt, after Owen’s older brother Andrew called to say he had found his unconscious brother at noon.

A source close to the Wedding Crashers star told Us Weekly that Owen was had struggled privately with depression and took drugs recreationally: “We always thought he was just too fun-loving, but now it’s obvious he was just dealing with way too much to handle.”

A second source told the Sun that Owen had been expected at a number of beach parties in Malibu over recent weeks but not shown up: “He seemed to go into a cloud of depression. He was down and didn’t open up. He kind of changed.”

“He is seriously lucky to be alive - he was really close to death when he arrived and they had to do everything to keep him with us.”

“He’s such a wonderful person, such a great guy, so smart and nice. We’re just hoping he gets better.”

Owen was set to start filming Tropic Thunder with Ben Stiller and Jack Black in the next few weeks and is slated to star opposite Jennifer Aniston in Marley and Me. Dreamworks Pictures insist that Tropic Thunder with begin production as planned but Variety is reporting that Owen is no longer taking part. As for Marley and Me, a spokesperson for Fox said it’s “totally inappropriate at this time” to ask Owen’s role would be recast.

An entertainment insurance company source told the New York Daily News that the suicide attempt won’t necessarily render Owen “uninsurable” for future projects: “But you have to look at the artist as a whole, you have to look at their past, present and future.”

“Maybe something is an issue now, but will it be again in 60 days? We look at a whole range of time.”