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Celebrities, often idolized for their glamour and success, are not immune to the profound struggles of depression. Behind the glitz and fame, they may grapple with overwhelming sadness, anxiety, and feelings of emptiness.
Their battles fought away from the spotlight, require resilience, support, and the courage to seek help, reminding us that mental health knows no boundaries, even in the realm of stardom.
Angelina Jolie
Actress, filmmaker, and philanthropist, Angelina Jolie acknowledged that she struggled with depression when she was a teenager, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Angelina, who has always been quite transparent about her struggles with mental illness, even admitted that she once cut herself and hired a hit guy to kill her as a means to deal with her despair. Despite the fact that her life began to get better after she became a mother and achieved success in Hollywood, the actress experienced another bout of sadness in 2007 after losing her mother to cancer.
“I felt I was going into a very dark place, and I wasn’t capable of getting up in the morning, so I signed up for something that would force me to be awake in the morning,” she said on accepting the lead role in her movie, ‘Wanted’.
She has also claimed that finding herself has been greatly aided by her humanitarian efforts.
Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has spoken publicly about his struggles with mental illness. In an ITV interview from 2018, he stated, “Depression doesn’t discriminate, regardless of who you are or what you do for a living, it doesn’t discriminate … The key thing I found is … especially [for] us as guys….you gotta talk about it, you’re not alone.”
Adele
Adele said in a 2016 Vanity Fair interview, “I’m too scared. I had really bad postpartum depression after I had my son, and it frightened me … I didn’t talk to anyone about it. I was very reluctant.” She added, “[Postpartum] can come in many different forms. Eventually, I just said, I’m going to give myself an afternoon a week, just to do whatever the f*** I want without my baby.”
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga hasn’t been shy about too many things, least of all her long battle with mental illness. In a candid interview with Billboard, the pop star admitted, “I’ve suffered through depression and anxiety my entire life. I just want these kids to know that.”
“I learned that my sadness never destroyed what was great about me. You just have to go back to that greatness and find that one little light that’s left. I’m lucky I found one little glimmer stored away.”
Today, Lady Gaga works hard as an advocate for mental health. Her Born This Way Foundation seeks to empower youth, inspire bravery, and provide resources for young people dealing with depression, severe anxiety, and even bullying.
Jim Carrey
Jim easily makes the short list of history’s most influential comedians, but in an interview with 60 Minutes, the funnyman shocked a lot of people when he acknowledged he has spent much of his life dealing with depression.
“There are peaks, there are valleys. But they’re all kind of carved and smoothed out, and it feels like a low level of despair you live in,” he said.
After the second of his two failed marriages, Carrey sought the help of a psychiatrist who prescribed him Prozac. Though Carrey admits the antidepressant helped him out of an initial jam, he also realized that he couldn’t be one of those who stay on the drug forever. “You need to get out of bed every day and say that life is good. That’s what I did, although at times it was very difficult for me.”
Carrey credits a healthy diet and natural supplements for his improved mental health.
Selena Gomez
“I’ve had a lot of issues with depression and anxiety, and I’ve been very vocal about it, but it’s not something I feel I’ll ever overcome.”
She has also discussed the benefits of dialectical behavior therapy, which was initially created for individuals with borderline personality disorder but is now used to treat depression and other mental illnesses.
Deepika Padukone
It was the first time an A-list Bollywood celebrity made the decision to be upfront about her mental state and acknowledge it on a global scale. She addressed the entire world and discussed her severe depression as a result of her failed relationship and how it had a negative impact on her.
At the height of her career, Deepika was well aware that this could have a severe impact on her line of work, but she didn’t shy away.
Today, she runs the Live Love Laugh Foundation to offer coping mechanisms to those who have similar experiences.
“I was diagnosed with depression in 2014. I used to feel weird that people don’t talk about it. It was a stigma and people don’t even know much about it. During that time, I realized that if I am experiencing this, then there would be many people out there facing depression as well. My ambition in life was that if I could save just one life, then my purpose was solved. We have come a long way now.“
Jon Hamm
At age 20, shortly after losing his father renowned actor Jon Hamm had his first episode of persistent depression. Hamm credits therapy and pharmaceuticals with “changing his brain chemistry enough to think: “I want to get up in the morning, I won’t go to bed until after four o’clock.”
Although it would take Hamm a decade before he would become well-known as Mad Men’s Don Draper, it appears that the Emmy and Golden Globe winner still struggles. He admitted himself to a 30-day treatment facility in Connecticut in May 2015.
Cara Delevingne
In an interview with Net-a-Porter’s The Edit, model, and actress Cara Delevingne disclosed her struggles with depression as a young girl, confessing that she had to take a vacation from school to undergo treatment.
“I felt alienated and alone, because I was like, what’s wrong with me? I always wanted people to love me, so I never got angry with them; I turned my anger onto myself, she said. “I hated myself for being depressed, I hated feeling depressed, I hated feeling.”
Delevingne is now able to control her depression and has continued a successful career in film and print.
Kristen Bell
Whether you recognize Kristen Bell from her voice, her ads, or her crude “Bad Moms” one-liners, you probably won’t be familiar with the significant depression she has been battling.
In an Off Camera interview from 2016, Kristen stated, “My mom sat me down when I was probably 18 and said, ‘There is a serotonin imbalance in our family line and it can often be passed from female to female’ … My mom’s a nurse and she had the wherewithal to recognize it in herself … I got on a prescription when I was really young to help with my anxiety and depression, and I still take it today, and I have no shame in that.”