Six Celebs Speak Out About Mental Health

Their lives may be far from ordinary, but actors, musicians, athletes, and writers have emotional and mental health issues just like the rest of us. When a celeb opens up about depression, anxiety, and mental disorders, it can have a major impact on the way people think about these issues. That’s why it’s so great that these celebrities came forward and shared their stories. We hope their strength and courage will encourage more people, famous or not, to reach out for help when they need it.

Pete Wentz

“One of the biggest things for me was being honest with everybody about it. And let them know, like, you know, there are gonna be times when we’re gonna have to slow down so I can just make sure everything is intact. The second step was finding somebody that I could talk to, but that I was going to be honest with and that not necessarily that they had all the answers for me, but, like, that I could get it all out to them and then, like, together we could piece things together. I found that talk therapy with this guy has been the best thing that I’ve had.”

Demi Lovato

“[After therapy,] for the first time in my life I started to feel. It was such a humbling experience to not just push your feelings aside and ignore them. I’m thankful now that I’m feeling, you know?”

Mary J. Blige

“The only thing that I could do is to go through the pain of getting better and go through the pain of looking at myself and how ugly I had become on the inside. And not even ugly, just the pain of forgiving those people. The pain of forgiveness.”

Metta World Peace, a.k.a. Ron Artest

“It takes a lot of, you know, self-searching, you know, being honest with your psychologist, being honest with whoever you’re talking to. You know, being able to handle the truth, you know, and I think that’s the hump you have to get over,” the L.A. Lakers star said about his depression.

J.K. Rowling

“I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never. What’s to be ashamed of? I went through a really tough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that,” says the author of the Harry Potter series.

Catherine Zeta-Jones

“Bipolar disorder is something I have been dealing with for a long time. I think with the year we had with my stepson, and then of course Michael’s cancer, and all of a sudden all those things that happened to me, and my bipolar just came straight out. Depression, then manic trying to make everyone perfect, and I can never fix anybody, couldn’t make anything perfect. We just had to go through, like so many people, a really rough 2 years.”

These are just a handful of celebs who have talked about their struggles publicly. Does knowing their stories influence your attitudes about your own mental health?