Katy Perry, Selena Gomez and more stars have shined a light on what it’s really like to deal with mental health issues in the spotlight.
Being in the public eye is part of the job when becoming a star, but it can make it more difficult to navigate one’s problems. Many stars, however, have used their platform to normalize mental health problems.
From sharing stories of postpartum depression to opening up about anxiety and suicidal thoughts, many of Hollywood’s biggest names have become more vocal over the years about real-life struggles.
Ahead of welcoming her first child with Orlando Bloom, Perry got real about facing bouts of depression and self-doubt in the past during an August 2020 interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. Following her 2017 breakup and Witness album releases, Perry revealed she became “clinically depressed and had to get on medication for the first time in my life.”
The “Roar” singer said she was “so ashamed of it” when she started taking medication. “I was like, ‘I’m Katy Perry. I wrote ‘Firework.’ I’m on medication. This is f—ed up,’” she recalled. The musician later learned how to “quiet it the f—k down” when it came to public criticism and went on a two year “psychological, spiritual, emotional journey.”
In April 2020, Gomez revealed that she has bipolar disorder and explained that by knowing that truth about herself she was able to feel more at ease.
“When I have more information, it actually helps me, it doesn’t scare me once I know it,” the “Rare” singer said on an episode of Bright Minded: Live With Miley. “When I finally said what I was going to say, I wanted to know everything about it and it took the fear away.”
Kristen Bell shared her own mental health journey during an interview on Sunday Today With Willie Geist in November 2019, noting that she felt “incredibly irresponsible” for not speaking out sooner.
“Everyone thinks there’s some shame in it,” the Frozen star said at the time. “I am someone who takes a medication for her anxiety and depression. I am someone who has to check myself and sometimes — if I’m feeling really low — make a checklist of good and bad things in my life to see if it’s my mental state or if we really have a problem. And me talking about that actually came from [my husband, Dax Shepard].”
Demi Lovato, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Jon Hamm have also opted not to hide their issues, instead speaking out about their past demons.
Scroll down to see what some stars have said about mental health.