By Clarisse Sonia
TW: Mature themes (mentions of suicide, self harm, and depression)
Artist Chappell Roan recently opened up about her struggles with her own mental health, revealing that it has caused her to alter tour dates and headlining at music festivals. However, she was met with a wave of fierce scrutiny on social media, with even Comedy Central’s Saturday Night Live poking fun at her with a recent skit featuring Bowen Yang.
However, the question to consider here would be why Chappell Roan had the public reacting the way it did towards her, and would the situation have pan out differently if it had been, let’s say, a man? Would a male celebrity have gained a more forgiving and gentle reaction?
Thus, the discussion of gender and mental health comes into play. Roan’s story mirrors those of other high-profile women who have been candid about their mental health challenges, only to have it splashed across the latest tabloids and sometimes met with further scrutiny. Here are female celebrities who have been transparent about their mental health journeys and the lengths they have taken to face them.
Credits: @sephora via Pinterest 1. SELENA GOMEZ on her depression, anxiety, and lupus disease.
With a career spanning over 20 years since her Disney Channel days as a rising teen star, Selena Gomez is no stranger to the pop culture scene. Not only as an artist, actress, and model, she has also made a recent name for herself in the makeup industry as the founder and CEO of Rare Beauty, which has an estimate worth of $2 billion.
However, Gomez is known for another reason: her fervent advocacy for mental health. The Rare Beauty founder centers her makeup brand around positivity, which is hardly a surprise given her journey navigating through various health issues. She has been transparent about the ups and downs of her mental wellbeing, especially after her lupus diagnosis in 2016 and a kidney transplant in the following year. She suffers from anxiety and depression, especially after being diagnosed as bipolar in 2020. In 2024, she announced that, due to her lupus disease, she is unable to bear any children.
She admitted to having suicidal thoughts and has sought professional help, which she details along with other mental and physical struggles in her documentary My Mind and Me, streaming on Apple TV+. Gomez lastly credits going offline and detaching herself from social media as one of her coping mechanisms, as she often announces via her Instagram account that she will be taking a break whenever her circumstances become too much to bear
Credits: @evintageprincess via Pinterest 2. Ariana Grande on depression, PTSD, and body image.
Another fellow teen pop star who rose to early stardom is Ariana Grande, who has a successful singing and acting career. In 2017, she was diagnosed with PTSD after her concert in Manchester, United Kingdom, suffered a terrorist attack after a suicide bomb went off. The incident left 22 dead and more than 500 injured victims. In 2018, Ariana shared on Instagram a screenshot of her brain’s CT scan as someone who suffers from PTSD side-by-side a standard “healthy” brain. She captioned it as “Hilarious and terrifying... not a joke.”.
Grande also shared about her battle with anxiety after the bombing, stating that she had difficulty breathing, being in loud and crowded spaces in public, and dizzy spells that would occasionally hit her out of nowhere. She struggled opening up about the topic and dismissed her own sufferings in the past, feeling like it was unfair to compare her own trauma compared to the loss that her fans and victims went through.
Last year, Grande received much online spectulation about her body surrounding her supposed drastic “weight loss” as fans noted a difference in her features. As she addressed these “concerns” from fans, Grande went on to say that any commentary on bodies, hers or otherwise, is unwarranted and potentially harmful, as well as reminding people that they do not always know the full story of someone’s physical health journey despite their looks.
Credits: @adeleaccess via Instagram 3. Adele on postpartum depression
Being a first-time mother to a newborn can be a challenge for many, and British powerhouse singer Adele is no different. Adele, who gave birth to her son Angelo in 2012 with her now-ex-husband Simon Konecki, has recently revealed that she suffered from postpartum depression after delivering and raising him.
Adele recalls how she felt that she had “lost” a sense of herself after becoming a mother, especially since her entire focus shifted to her son being the top priority. She shares the mental toll it took on her while navigating through motherhood while balancing her career, as she felt like her experience was unrelatable compared to those around her.
Her postpartum depression experience includes going through periods of isolation and self-doubts, which contributed to her feelings of loss of identity. Now that her son is older and Adele has resumed her music, she stressed the importance of taking some alone time for all mothers, even if it is just a day off, to refocus and ground yourself again when life gets too overwhelming.
Credits: @Stephanie Calvert via Pinterest 4. Maisie Williams on trauma, anxiety, and body image.
Maisie Willams rose to fame after finding international success on HBO's Game of Thrones, but it was the start of the young girl's ongoing struggle balancing her mental health while on the big screen as Arya Stark.
Williams shares how, at 13 years old, the criticism and mean comments left on social media from fans still occasionally haunt her to this day. It is already difficult being an average teenager undergoing changes like puberty, acne, and more, let alone having all these issues being pointed out by millions worldwide who were watching the show. This led to her having a negative self-image about herself, adding unnecessary pressure to look and act in a certain way, as well as battling anxiety.
Williams shared the relief she felt once Game of Thrones came to an end, as she was able to step away from the limelight and lead a “normal” life for the time being. Williams has also shared the benefits of going to therapy, stating that speaking to the therapist has made strides in improving her mental health.
Credits: @NCDIVA67 via Pinterest 5. Simone Biles on mental health.
Simone Biles has rocked headlines since the start of her gymnastics journey, especially as a 3-time Gold and 1-time Silver Olympian in the recent Paris 2024 Olympics. However, despite her talents and experience, Biles pulled out from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, citing a pressing issue that athletes face but may not feel comfortable speaking up on: a decline in her mental health and headspace.
Biles spoke candidly about her struggles about having the "twisties," which is when a gymnast is midair and draws blank for a few seconds, which can confuse their landing and cause fatal injuries. Despite her opening up, she faced scrutiny from social media from comments that brushed off her struggle as simply not being strong enough or focused enough, etc.
Biles also shared about the heartache she faced after redrawing from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, citing that it was not an easy decision to make on her part. However, she ultimately knew that she had made the right decision to step back after listening to her coach, who advised Biles to take the time off and give therapy a try, which Biles initially was reluctant to do. But now, Biles says therapy has helped her in handling anxiety, and that she has benefitted much from her sessions. In 2024, a show on Netflix was dedicated to Biles, detailing her journey navigating the Olympics with her mental health struggles called Simone Biles Rising.
Credit: @bellazon.com via Pinterest 6. Amanda Seyfried on OCD.
Amanda Seyfried is a blockbuster movie star and singer, famous for films like Mamma Mia, Mean Girls, The Dropout, and more. She has been acting since she was 15 and is no stranger to the movie industry. However, one lesser-known fact about her is that she has obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as OCD.
Seyfried shares about the severity of her disorder, recalling one of her decisions to not have any stoves in her guest house out of fear that it would burn the entire house down. Seyfried has also spoken about having anxiety, which led her to seek a psychiatrist for further treatment.
Seyfried has also been candid about taking prescribed medication to help her manage OCD. She is also a long-time advocate for mental health, especially after her comments stating that mental health is every bit as valid as one’s physical health, even though our mental health is unseen and our physical health isn’t.
If you, or anybody you may know, is undergoing any mental health-related struggles, BeFrienders is a mental health call center available 24-hours a day, which you can call at +603-79571306.
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