In an interview with Essence, the actress described some pretty painful college days, saying that she’d eat any and everything, sometimes until she passed out. Then, she’d work out for hours, trying to keep it all a secret which she said was “painful and isolating.” She adds, “There was a lot of guilt and a lot of shame.” Thanks to a dance teacher, she eventually started therapy and got back to a healthy place.
2. Ellen DeGeneres
The talk show host went into a severe depression after she came out as gay and lost her job. “The bullying I endured [in Hollywood] after I came out made up for the lack of it during my childhood…I moved out of L.A., went into a severe depression, started seeing a therapist and had to go on antidepressants for the first time in my life. It was scary and lonely. All I’d known for 30 years was work, and all of a sudden I had nothing. Plus, I was mad. It didn’t feel fair — I was the same person everyone had always known,” she told Good Housekeeping.
3. Lady Gaga
Gaga has been very open about her struggle with mental health. She once said to The Mirror, “I openly admit to having battled depression and anxiety and I think a lot of people do…I think it’s better when we all say: ‘Cheers!’ and ‘fess up to it.’”
4. Kid Cudi
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In 2016, Kid Cudi opened up about his mental wellness on Facebook. He wrote in part, “Yesterday I checked myself into rehab for depression and suicidal urges. I am not at peace. I haven’t been since you’ve known me. If I didn’t come here, I wouldve done something to myself. I simply am a damaged human swimming in a pool of emotions everyday of my life.”
5. Chris Evans
Captain America has expressed he’s battled depression stemming from his issues with anxiety. Here’s how he once described doing a red carpet. “A red carpet lasts, what, 30 minutes, tops? But that to me is like 30 minutes of walking on hot coals. It’s not like a junket — junkets you sit in a room and they bring ‘em in. I can do that all day and not have a meltdown. But the premiere — that’s overwhelming. It’s the volume of it: You’re in the center of this thing. You can fight a whole army if they line up one at a time. But if they surround you, you’re f-ed.”
6. Kehlani
Two years ago, Kehlani attempted to take her own life after she became the center of a social media scandal involving two men she loved. She said via Instagram, “I’m not a bad person… everyone is hurt and everyone is in a place of misunderstanding.. But as of today, I had no single wish to see tomorrow.”
7. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
In a new interview with the Express, The Rock revealed he started suffering from depression when he was living in poverty as a child and his mom tried to take her own life. “She got out of the car on the Interstate 65 in Nashville and walked into oncoming traffic,” he recalls—though his mom doesn’t remember the incident at all.
8. Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is another celebrity who’s been very open about battling depression over the years. She admits that as a teen she cut herself and even hired a hitman to kill her.
9. Halle Berry
In 2007, the famous actress told Parade she’d tried to commit suicide following her split from David Justice. It was thinking of her own mother that saved her.
10. Michelle Williams
Michelle Williams has also opened up about her mental health. “For years, I was in one of the top-selling female groups of all time, suffering with depression,” she said while co-hosting The Talk in 2017.
11. Serena Williams
Even the champ has suffered from depression, stemming from a knee injury. Patrick Mouratoglou told ESPN that while Serena was recovering, “She was depressed. The reaction was quite strong. She was really, really affected, which I think is normal when you are Serena.”
12. Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato famously suffered from depression, bipolar disorder, and drug addiction. But after checking herself into rehab and being honest about her struggles, she is back with a vengeance.
