In recent years, music stars like Bruce Springsteen, Ellie Goulding, Kid Cudi, Kesha, Selena Gomez and Adele have opened up about their personal battles with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses.
They are not alone.
According to a 2018 study by the Music Industry Research Association, half of the 1,227 U.S. musicians surveyed reported battling symptoms of depression and nearly 12 percent reported having suicidal thoughts.
Halsey discovered last year that talking about her mental health issues can help others.
“I’ve been committed twice since [I became] Halsey, and no one’s known about it,” the pop star told Rolling Stone in an interview published last June. “But I’m not ashamed of talking about it now.”
Halsey said getting professional help is part of being accountable to the people who depend on her for a living.
“I’ve said to [my manager], ‘Hey, I’m not going to do anything bad right now, but I’m getting to the point where I’m scared that I might, so I need to go figure this out.’ It’s still happening in my body. I just know when to get in front of it.”
The feeling of responsibility to the people who work for her is also why, she said, she has given up hard booze, drugs and weed. “I just can’t be out getting f**ked up all the time,” said Halsey.
The singer, who has previously opened up about her bipolar disorder, added: “I know I'm just going to get f**king depressed and be boring again soon and I hate that that's a way of thinking. Every time I wake up and realize I'm back in a depressive episode, I'm bummed. I'm like, ‘F**k. F**k! This is where we're going now? OK….’”
Singer FKA twigs says she is learning “it’s okay not to feel amazing all the time.” She opened up about her mental health in an interview with BBC Radio 1 last November
"It’s becoming apparent as I get older and as I get to know myself,” she said. “It’s okay for me, as a woman of colour, not to feel like a Nubian queen all the time, who’s perfectly sitting on my throne of greatness.
FKA twigs (aka Tahliah Barnett) said being okay all the time is “just not my reality.” She added: “I know that I’m still perfect the way that I am, and I know that I still can do whatever I want, and I can dream big and I can achieve my dreams. And that has nothing to do with my completeness in the moment.”
Last September, pop singer Aaron Carter talked about his mental health issues on episodes of The Doctors. revealing that he has been diagnosed with multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, acute anxiety and manic depression.
“This is my reality,” he said, holding up a bag of six medications he has been prescribed – Xanax, Seroquel, gabapentin, hydroxyzine, trazodone and omeprazole.”
Justin Bieber took to Instagram last March to tell fans he was working on his mental health.
“I’ve toured my whole teenage life, and early 20s, I realized,” wrote Bieber, “and as you guys probably saw I was unhappy last tour and I don’t deserve that and you don’t deserve that, you pay money to come and have a lively energetic fun light concert and I was unable emotionally to give you that near the end of the tour.”
He added: “I am now very focused on repairing some of the deep rooted issues that I have as most of us have, so that I don’t fall apart, so that I can sustain my marriage and be the father I want to be.”
(This week, Bieber said $1 from every ticket to his Changes Tour will go to his foundation to support mental health initiatives.)
Lady Gaga, who has been outspoken about her mental health battles, told Oprah Winfrey earlier this month that she is committed to helping others.
“It's 2020, and over the next decade and maybe longer, I'm going to get the smartest scientists, doctors, psychiatrists, mathematicians, researchers and professors in the same room together,” she vowed, “and we are going to go through each problem one by one, and we are going to solve this mental health crisis.”
The “Born This Way” singer wants mental health to be part of every school’s curriculum.
“I want there to be someone in every school that someone can go to if they're in need of help, or that someone can go to if they see that someone else needs help,” said Gaga, adding that it should be "a requirement in every school that you learn about the importance of kindness, about triggers, and you learn about depression."
If you or someone you know needs help, click here for resources.
Bell Let's Talk Day is an initiative of Bell Media, parent company of this website.