The 20 Best Celebrity Mental Health Advocates
There is a long, unpleasant history of people with mental health issues being stigmatized. Something that has caused a great deal of suffering. After all, being stigmatized has a very negative effect on those on the receiving end.
Moreover, the fear of being treated this way prevents them from seeking help for their mental health issues. Fortunately, society is coming around to the notion of taking mental health issues seriously without stigmatizing the sufferers.
In part, this is because of celebrities acting as mental health advocates. Just by speaking up, they are letting people know two critical things. One, there is no reason to be ashamed of having mental health issues. Two, it is possible to get treatment for mental health issues.
Here are 20 of the top celebrity mental health advocates:
20. Prince Harry
No one was particularly surprised when Prince Harry revealed he had experienced mental health issues. He was still very young when his mother died in a Parisian tunnel.
Moreover, The Independent reminds us that it happened in a very ugly, very public way. Under those circumstances, it would have been a wonder if someone didn’t experience mental health issues of some kind.
That is particularly true considering the constant scrutiny members of the British royal family are placed under. The good thing is that Prince Harry revealed he sought out counseling later in life, which helped him become who he wanted to be.
19. Elizabeth Olsen
Interested individuals might recognize Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She said she started suffering panic attacks every hour as a young adult living in New York City, which was connected to her anxiety.
Something that must have been extra hard-hitting because she wasn’t even aware that panic attacks existed before then. In Olsen’s case, she managed to start getting her issues under control when she sought help from one of her friends, who was a medical expert.
18. Zendaya
Zendaya has revealed a couple of personal experiences with mental health issues. First, there was the mention of anxiety related to her performances. Second, there was the mention of depression related to the COVID-19 crisis.
Besides this, Zendaya has also voiced support for therapy. Something that matters because the American Psychological Association says approximately 3 in 4 people who get therapy benefit from the process.
17. Beyonce
There is a widespread belief that successful people don’t encounter mental health issues. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. Everyone can run into mental health issues, just as how everyone can run into physical health issues.
In Beyonce’s case, she revealed a point in her life when she experienced so much mental fuzziness that she couldn’t tell the date or the city while on tour.
16. Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus was so depressed at one point that she locked herself in her room while refusing to come out. Her sense of misery was connected to her skin issues. Cyrus says she needed to take medication for her depression.
Moreover, she said that while she didn’t like the idea of doing so, she recognized that there are times when people have to do so for the sake of their well-being.
15. Emma Stone
Anxiety is sometimes treated as something less serious than it can be. Emma Stone’s story is an excellent example of how much of an effect anxiety can have on people.
She described how she experienced flare-ups that made her feel like she couldn’t breathe. Similarly, she mentioned how her situation worsened to the point that she could barely muster the strength to leave her home. Funny enough, acting was one of the ways that Stone learned to manage her anxiety.
14. Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps has a strong claim to being the greatest or one of the greatest athletes of our times. Certainly, he is the best swimmer, as shown by how he has twice the Olympic swimming gold medals compared to the runner-up.
As such, Phelps’s struggles with ADHD and depression are another reminder that everyone can experience mental health issues.
13. Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds is another celebrity who has mentioned anxiety in connection to his job. Specifically, he described being so worked-up that he either couldn’t sleep or wound up sleeping while sitting up. Something that didn’t do wonders for his physical health.
12. Lady Gaga
People often associate PTSD with war. However, it can happen because of anything traumatic. Examples include but are not limited to assault, accidents, and sexual violence. Self says Lady Gaga developed PTSD because she was raped by one of the producers she was working with at the age of 19.
Subsequently, she experienced symptoms such as crying, body spasms, and breathing problems. Part of Lady Gaga’s recovery process involved making this known rather than pretending it never happened.
11. Adele
Adele has experienced more than one bout of depression. In particular, she says she had a very nasty case of postpartum depression after she had her son.
For those unfamiliar, the Mayo Clinic says it is common for new moms to experience anxiety, sadness, irritability, mood swings, and related symptoms for up to two weeks after giving birth.
Postpartum depression is similar but more serious. Moreover, it doesn’t have to fit into that time frame. Sometimes, expecting moms start experiencing the symptoms while they are still pregnant.
Other times, they start experiencing the symptoms a full year after giving birth. A very small number of new moms will experience something even worse called postpartum psychosis, which can lead to attempts to hurt themselves or their babies.
Pregnancy and everything related to it comes with numerous potential complications. This should make it clear that those can impact mental health as much as physical health.
10. Michael B. Jordan
Michael B. Jordan is another individual who has shown up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In his case, he played Killmonger in Black Panther. Jordan sought therapy after filming the movie.
Essentially, he wanted to get into the mind of his character. As a result, he isolated himself from other people to induce a state of loneliness, which he believed contributed much to Killmonger’s mindset.
The issue is that he didn’t have a plan for getting himself out of that mindset, meaning he struggled with returning to his previous self. To resolve this, Jordan sought therapy for the help he needed.
The whole incident is an interesting reminder of how easily people can stumble into a bad situation when it comes to our mental well-being, meaning we should always be ready to reach out for professional assistance when needed.
9. Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson has gathered an impressive collection of critical and commercial accolades due to The X-Files, The Crown, and other successful projects. She wrote a self-help book in 2017, which revealed numerous examples of her struggles with mental health issues. As Anderson tells it, her experiences go back to her youth, as shown by how she started going to therapy at the age of 14.
8. Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones revealed her diagnosis of bipolar II disorder in the hope that it would encourage other people to seek help for these conditions. The National Institute of Mental Health says someone has bipolar disorder when they experience unusual changes in their mood, energy levels, and related factors. It is divided into three subcategories.
Bipolar I disorder is when someone experiences at least one major manic episode, while bipolar II disorder is when someone experiences at least one major manic episode and at least one major depressive episode.
There is also cyclothymic disorder, which is when someone experiences manic and depressive symptoms without them being long enough and severe enough to count as full-blown episodes.
Please note that someone can have bipolar disorder that doesn’t fall into one of these three categories, thus serving as further evidence that mental health is a complicated thing.
7. Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson is well-known to have struggled to find happiness. For instance, she has stated that some of her issues come from a sense of low self-esteem. Something that might sound unbelievable from a boundary-breaking international superstar but is nonetheless capable of happening.
6. Chrissy Teigen
Chrissy Teigen is another individual who suffered from postpartum depression after giving birth. She says she never expected it to happen to her. However, postpartum depression struck anyways. Teigen mentioned that she took a while to speak up on the matter because she struggled with the effects of her condition, which can last for quite some time.
5. Chris Evans
Chris Evans played Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. On top of this, he is well-known to have a strong interest in sociopolitical issues. As a result, Evans is very active when it comes to philanthropic matters.
For instance, he is a regular supporter of Christopher’s Haven, which provides housing for families with kids battling cancer. Mental health-wise, Evans has talked about anxiety and ways to overcome anxiety.
4. Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato has spoken at length about mental health issues. In part, that is because she has had to overcome a lot of issues in this regard, which hasn’t always been the smoothest process.
One example can be seen in how she suffered from bulimia and other serious issues as a teenager, which led to her self-medicating using drugs and alcohol. Some people manage to overcome their addictions in a single go.
In contrast, others have a much messier time with things. It seems safe to say that Lovato is one of the latter, seeing as how she suffered an opioid overdose in 2018.
Still, she has been candid about her struggles, thus making it much easier to sympathize with her struggles with getting better. That is particularly true because drugs and alcohol aren’t the only issues she has had to deal with.
3. Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber has supported a remarkable range of charitable causes throughout his career. To name an example, he backs Pencils of Promise, a non-profit that creates educational opportunities around the world by building schools.
Similarly, Bieber has contributed to everything from animal welfare to disaster relief. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bieber has contributed to efforts to combat mental health issues, not least because he has personal experience with anxiety and depression.
2. Selena Gomez
Speaking of which, Selena Gomez is another celebrity who has struggled with anxiety and depression. She outright told Rolling Stone that she experienced an episode of psychosis in 2018, which is why she winded up in a treatment facility for several months.
Gomez said she was hearing voices loud enough to drown out what was going on around her. Moreover, she was paralyzed by paranoia. In a sense, she was lucky in that she managed to come out of it. Something that was by no means guaranteed.
Even then, it took time for her to return to her old self, not least because she had to be weaned off of unnecessary medications given in the initial frantic search for something that would snap her out of her psychosis.
Since then, Gomez is well-known to have taken an increased interest in mental health and other philanthropic causes. Indeed, she has won awards for her mental health advocacy.
1. Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande is also known to struggle with anxiety and depression. On top of these things, she was greatly affected by the Manchester Arena bombing that happened right after one of her concerts.
Due to that, Grande developed PTSD, which almost caused her to pull out of A Very Wicked Halloween in 2018. She has done a great deal to support deserving causes. To name an example, she teamed up with BetterHelp to give away about $2 million’s worth of therapy sessions in June 2021.
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