Celebrities open up about mental health struggles hoping to help others
Chicago TribuneApr 26, 2017
Former
"I was really worried," she said. "I was like, 'Oh my God, now I'm going to be judged. The coaches are going to treat me different.'"
She worried, she recalled, people would think, "She's not mentally tough. She's soft."
But Holdsclaw, who was recently in
In 2013, she pleaded guilty to assault and possession of a firearm after reportedly smashing the windows of her ex-girlfriend's car. Realizing she needed help, she found that telling others what she was going through took away feelings of hiding and shame.
She said she is encouraged that other boldface names are opening up.
Last week,
"I should be so happy," the singer said in the video. "But you can't help it if in the morning you wake up, you are so tired, you are so sad, you are so full of anxiety."
Celebrities speaking frankly about depression or anxiety, Holdsclaw said, might help others feel comfortable doing the same.
"Young people coming up, we have to change things by letting them know that it's OK to talk about their feelings and their emotions," she said. "Those thoughts and emotions fester."
Model
"I'm speaking up now because I want people to know it can happen to anybody, and I don't want people who have it to feel embarrassed or to feel alone," she wrote.
For Holdsclaw, opening up freed her in a way she hadn't felt before.
"We have to use our voices and use our platform to encourage," she said.
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