Sharing mental health issues with close family or specialist health professionals can be difficult enough. Add to that the pressures of fame and being in the public eye, and all the struggles are exponentially harder to deal with.
In recent years, however, mental health has become a much more widely discussed topic in celebrity culture. Several artists have used their music and platform to speak about their own struggles with depression, anxiety, and more. Bruce Springsteen has Selena Gomez.
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month in May, GRAMMY.com is highlighting the inspiring impact of music superstars speaking out about what they’re going through and how they’re handling their challenges. These 10 artists are contributing to change through their courage and frankness.
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran takes fans behind the curtain of his personal life and struggles with mental health Ed Sheeran: The Sum of All. The four-episode documentary series, now streaming on Disney+, details the pain of losing his best friend Jamal Edwards and his wife Cherry Seaborn being diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with their daughter Jupiter.
“What I think is really great about the documentary is the themes that it explores that everyone goes through,” Sheeran said at the premiere in New York on May 2, according to the Hollywood journalist. “Everyone goes through grief. Everyone goes through ups and downs when it comes to mental health.”
Sheeran dives deeper into his struggles – and is more vulnerable than ever – on his latest album To subtractarrived on May 5. “Fleeing the light/Engulfed in darkness/Sharing my eyes/I wonder why I’m stuck at the border,” he sings on the album “Borderline,” which addresses the struggle with suicidal thoughts.
Lewis Capaldi
Like Sheeran, Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi also gave fans an incredibly first-hand look at his mental health struggles in a documentary, How I feel now. The new Netflix version details his experience with anxiety and Tourette syndrome, taking viewers to physical therapy with Capaldi and discussing how his medications help and harm his quality of life.
Capaldi’s second album, Broken by the desire to be sent from heaven (due May 19) will explore his anxieties and vulnerability in more detail. Although he admitted that it wasn’t easy to be so raw in his music and on screen, Capaldi wants to make a difference in the lives of others. “If people notice things that coincide with what’s going on in their lives, then it’s worth it,” he said. Variety.
Billie Eilish
While Billie Eilish‘s music has been raw and real from the beginning, but his music has become more and more vulnerable over the years. Whether in her music or in interviews, the star has spoken about body dysmorphia, depression and thoughts of self-harm – hoping to inspire fans to speak up when they’re hurting and know that it gets better.
“It doesn’t make you weak to ask for help,” she asserts in a 2019 video for Ad Council’s Seize The Awkward campaign, which features stars discussing mental health.
“Children use my songs as a hug,” she said rolling stone earlier that year. “Songs about depression, suicide or just being against yourself – some adults think it’s bad, but I think seeing someone else feel as horrible as you do is a comfort. It’s a good feeling.”
Selena Gomez
As one of the most followed stars on social media, Selena Gomez often used her formidable presence to discuss her mental health and connect with others. In 2022, the singer launched a startup called Wondermind, which focuses on “mental fitness” and helping users maintain good mental health.
A few months later, Gomez shared her own mental health journey in an Apple TV+ documentary, Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me, which shows the extremes she suffered with her depression and bipolar disorder. She said she was initially hesitant to share the film, but eventually thought about how many other people could be helped if she did.
“Because I have the platform that I have, it’s kind of like I’m sacrificing a little bit for a bigger goal,” she explained in a 2022 cover story with rolling stone. “I don’t want this to sound dramatic, but I almost didn’t publish it. To be honest, a few weeks ago I wasn’t sure I could do it.”
Shawn Mendes
In 2019, Shawn Mendes first publicly addressed her struggles with anxiety in the dynamic hit — and GRAMMY-nominated — “In My Blood.” Three years later, the singer postponed his 2022 tour in order to focus on his mental health, opening an important conversation for his legion of fans.
“The process was very difficult,” he said in a February interview with Wall Street Journal. “I did a lot of therapy, I did a lot of trying to understand what I was feeling and what was making me feel that way. And then I do the work to help myself and heal. And also lean on people in my life to help me a little.
“It took a lot of work, but I think the last year and a half has been the most eye-opening, grandest, and righteous healing process of my life,” he continued. “And it really made me realize how the culture is really starting to get to a point where mental health is really becoming a priority.”
Bruce Springsteen
Even an artist as famous and successful as Bruce Springsteen faced depression. In his 2016 autobiography Born to runthe 20-time GRAMMY winner quotes a difficult relationship with his father and a history of mental illness in the family, sharing that he sought treatment throughout his life.
“I was crushed between 60 and 62, good for a year, and again from 63 to 64,” he writes in the book. Around this time, he released his 2012 album, wrecking ball, which featured a raw track titled “This Depression.” “Baby, I’ve been down, but never this low, I’ve been lost, but never this lost,” he sings on the opening verse.
As his wife, Patti Scialfa, said Vanity Fair in 2016, “He approached the book the same way he would approach writing a song…A lot of his work comes from him trying to overcome that part of himself.”
Janet Jackson
The physical and emotional abuse suffered by the famous Jackson family is well documented in books, documentaries and television series. But it is only in recent years that Janet Jackson spoke about her own depression, which she described as “intense.” Her son Aissa helped her heal from mental health issues that followed her throughout her life.
“In my 40s, like millions of women around the world, I still heard voices in my head berating me, voices questioning my worth,” she wrote in a 2020 article. ESSENCE cover story. “Happiness was elusive. A reunion with old friends could make me happy. A call from a colleague could make me happy. But because sometimes I viewed my failed relationships as my fault, I easily fell into despair.”
Elle King
After achieving worldwide success with his first single, “Ex’s & Oh’s”, Elle King experienced the misfortunes of sudden fame as well as a crumbling marriage. His second album, that of 2018 Shake the Spiritdocumented her struggles with self-doubt, medicated alcohol use, and PTSD.
“There are two ways out,” she said PEOPLE in 2018, describing her marriage as “destructive,” physically abusive and leading her to addiction. “You can take the wrong path or you can get help. I got help because I knew I felt good about my life and I could get back to it.”
Brendon Urie
Certain public situations can trigger paralyzing anxiety attacks for Brendon Urie, who has spoken openly about his mental health struggles throughout his career. He may perform in front of thousands of fans, but he revealed that being at the grocery store or stuck in an elevator with other people for too long is among the most uncomfortable scenarios of his life.
“You would never say it on the surface, but inside it’s so painful I can’t even describe it,” the Panic! alum said. The At The Disco frontman – who disbanded the group earlier this year to focus on his family – said in a 2016 interview with Kerrang.
Big Sean
Rapper Big Sean and her mother released a series of educational videos during Mental Health Awareness Month in 2021 — two years after the Detroit-born star began speaking publicly about her own long-standing depression and anxiety.
“I was keeping it real because I was tired of not keeping it real,” he said in an interview with ESSENCE in 2021. “I was tired of pretending like I was a machine and everything was cool and politically correct or whatever. I was just like, I’m just saying what I feel.”
Like many of his peers, he hopes his honesty will help others. “Anything they can apply to their life and improve themselves and maybe even that starts a whole journey in a different direction as far as improving and taking care of themselves and taking care of themselves. responsible for themselves,” he added. “Whatever they’re trying to do, I hope this helps them achieve it.”
