mental health
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Editor’s note: The following story includes discussions of suicide and sexual abuse.
Ashley Judd and Aloe Blacc, who’ve both been touched by the suicide of a loved one, visited the White House on Tuesday (April 23) to help the White House unveil its new national strategy to prevent suicide.
“As we all know, suicide affects everyone, it doesn’t matter your age, race, gender or where you live, it impacts all of us and sadly suicide and suicidal thoughts and actions have really increased over the past several years,” said Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, who hosted the event.
Emhoff began his remarks by acknowledging Judd, whose mother country star Naomi Judd died almost two years ago by suicide and Blacc, whose close friend and collaborator EDM star Tim Bergling (aka Avicii) died by suicide in 2018. Emhoff noted that 132 people die by suicide every day and that “we’re here today because we know that we can and will change this. Suicide is preventable and the president and vice president have been hard at work taking action, action to mitigate and prevent suicide.”
Among the actions Emhoff said the administration is taking is mobile crisis response teams, more youth suicide prevention activities, as well as increased suicide prevention efforts in schools.
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Judd honored her beloved mother and described the Judds singers’ battle with mental illness, which she said was “lying to her and with great terror convinced her that it would never get better” during the discussion moderated by Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy that also featured Shelby Rowe, executive director of the Suicide Prevention Research Center. Judd spoke lovingly of her mother’s sense of humor and discovery of music as a child, but also noted that Naomi, 76, was a survivor of childhood and adult sexual violence who became a nurse and then a Grammy-winning country icon.
“She also lived most of her life with an untreated and undiagnosed mental illness that lied to her and stole from her and it stole from our family and she deserved better,” said Judd, who noted that she suffered from childhood depression and suicidal ideation after being molested when she was seven-years-old. “But I had a different experience because I went to treatment in 2006 for unresolved childhood grief and sexual trauma and I’ve been in good recovery for 18 years and I’ve had a different outcome than my mother.”
What Ashley Judd said she carries with her now is a message of hope and recovery.
Blacc said he was on the dais because he has a strong belief in the “tremendous power of music to amplify these important messages” and because he’s learned to stand up for friends who self-harmed and lived as well as those who’ve not survived. “It’s important for all of us to recognize the power that we have,” he said. “So in knowing someone who may be going through a traumatic time and just being a stand for them could make the big difference.”
He encouraged everyone in the room and watching to recognize the positive role we can play in other people’s lives. “The more we can recognize and see and offer our friends and our family members that moment to say, ‘I need your help’ and you know it makes me think about those moments where you get the phone call and a friend of yours has committed self-harm and you think, ‘when was the last time I called? When was the last time I texted?’”
The singer urged everyone to search for a “moment of joy” when they reach out to friends in crisis, including memories that spark laughter or a song, as well as to remind people that they are “the light.” Blacc said, “there’s no such thing as too much love. Let’s give as much as we can,” he added, leading the assembled guests in the chorus from “This Little Light of Mine.”
The administration’s new 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention — accompanied by the first-ever federal action plan — identifies 200 different actions that will be implemented and evaluated over the next three years. Among those actions are: identifying ways to address substance use and suicide risk together in the clinical setting, funding a mobile crisis locator for use by 988 crisis centers, increasing support for survivors of suicide loss and others whose lives have been impacted by suicide, and evaluating promising community-based suicide prevention strategies.
Watch a video of the event below.
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If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
Halle Bailey is opening up about her struggle with postpartum depression. According to People, the singer/actress discussed her battle with the ailment that affects nearly one in seven women in a Snapchat video last week in which she shared her love for her “perfect” son Halo while discussing the serious postpartum feelings that overwhelmed her.
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“I have severe, severe postpartum [depression], and I don’t know if any new moms can relate, but it’s to the point where it’s really bad, and it’s hard for me to be separated from my baby for more than 30 minutes at a time before I start to kind of freak out,” she said in the clip. In an accompanying Instagram post, Bailey got tons of love and support from other moms, including one who wrote, “I didn’t feel normal in my own body until like over a year after my baby,” while another said, “Thank you for your words on post partum. For using your voice to speak not only on your experience but that of so many mothers.”
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Little Mermaid star Bailey and partner DDG quietly welcomed their first child together last year and in the Snap she called the rapper the “most amazing daddy in the world” and praised him for his steady support through her postpartum blues. “Halo is a miracle. He is perfect. He is beautiful,” she said. “When I look at him, I cry because of how special he is. The only thing that’s been hard for me is feeling normal in my own body. I feel like a completely different person. When I look in the mirror, I just feel like I’m in a whole new body. Like, I don’t know who I am.”
Like many women who suffer from postpartum depression, Bailey said she’s worried about the stigma about publicly talking about depression. “Before I had a child and I would hear people talk about postpartum, it would kind of just go in one ear and out the other. I didn’t realize how serious of a thing it actually was,” she said. “Now going through it, it almost feels like you’re swimming in this ocean that’s like the biggest waves you’ve ever felt and you’re trying not to drown. And you’re trying to come up for air.”
Most importantly, Bailey stressed that, of course, her depression had “nothing” to do with her son and that her post was prompted by a comment she read about her family that she didn’t detail. “It has everything to do with me and who I am right now. I guess today I was just triggered — especially [since] social media is just not a good thing to be on when you have postpartum — but I was just really triggered today, especially by seeing some of the things that have been said about me and my family, and the one that I love and the ones that I love,” she said.
In March, Bailey, 23, made an emotional speech at the 2024 ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards ceremony in which she explained why she hid her pregnancy from a “place of protection.”
“There was no way in hell I was going to share the biggest joy of my world with anyone. Halo was my gift. He is the greatest blessing, and I had no obligation to expose him, me, or my family to that,” Bailey said. “With the state of the world and the place it is in with men trying to force their will on our bodies, no one on social media, and for d–n sure, no one on the planet was going to tell me what to do with my body or what to share with the world.”
Bailey and DDG revealed their son’s birth in January with a post on social media about becoming new parents. The singer has been doing double-duty as a new mom and a recording star, dropping her new single, “In Your Hands” on March 15; she cradles baby Halo in the video for the moving ballad featuring the moving chorus, “All in your hands, in your hands/ The world is yours when I’m in it/ In your hands, in your hands/ You can’t let go or you’ll lose your chance.”
The NIH says that postnatal depression is very common and can start anytime in the first year after giving birth and can also effect fathers and partners as well. Among the typical symptoms are a “persistent feeling of sadness and low mood,” “lack of enjoyment and loss of interest in the wider world,” “lack of energy and feeling tired all the time,” as well as trouble sleeping, difficulty looking after the baby or yourself, withdrawing from contact with other people, problems concentrating and making decisions and frightening thoughts, which can include thoughts of harming the baby.
Bailey ended the video with a reminder that just because she’s a public figure doesn’t mean the harsh things people write about her online don’t hurt. “Even though you may look up to certain people and you think that they are celebrities, and they appear it have it all together, you never know what somebody else is going through, especially someone who just had a baby literally,” she said.
Check out some of the supportive statements Bailey received on her Instagram post below.
It’s take two for BTS and UNICEF. The K-pop superstars and United Nations Children Fund announced the #OnMyMind initiative on Monday (April 22), the second chapter of their Love Myself campaign. The new initiative aims to improve and support the mental health youth around the world. To help kick off #OnMyMind, BTS, label Big Hit […]
Megan Thee Stallion has described her next era as a “rebirth” heading toward the release of an album later this year. It will be her first offering since Tory Lanez was sentenced last year in the shooting case against her, with Meg looking to close the book on the traumatic chapter of her life and build herself back up even stronger.
The Houston Hottie is the latest cover star of Women’s Health, and in the accompanying interview published on Wednesday (April 10), she reflected on the “dark times” following the Lanez 2020 shooting, which took a toll on her mental health.
“A lot of people didn’t treat me like I was human for a long time,” she said. “I feel like everybody was always used to me being the fun and happy party girl. I watched people build me up, tear me down, and be confused about their expectations of me. As a Black woman, as a darker Black woman, I also feel like people expect me to take the punches, take the beating, take the lashings and handle it with grace. But I’m human.”
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It wasn’t until Megan started therapy that her healing process began. She now works out four to five times a week with a regimen that includes hitting the gym, pilates and beach training.
“Before I went onstage, I would be crying half the time because I didn’t want to [perform], but I also didn’t want to upset my fans,” Thee Stallion admitted. “I didn’t want to get [out] from under the covers. I stayed in my room. I would not turn the lights on. I had blackout curtains. I didn’t want to see the sun. I knew I wasn’t myself. It took me a while to acknowledge that I was depressed. But once I started talking to a therapist, I was able to be truthful with myself.”
Tory Lanez was ultimately sentenced to 10 years behind bars on three felony counts over the incident, in which he shot Meg in the foot during an argument following a July 2020 pool party in the Hollywood Hills.
According to prosecutors, Megan got out of a car during an argument following a party at reality star Kylie Jenner’s house and began walking away when Lanez shouted, “Dance, b—h!” and proceeded to shoot.
Megan Thee Stallion on the cover of Women’s Health 2024 Body Issue.
Ramona Rosales for Women’s Health
The 29-year-old kicked off her new era last year with a series of serpentine-themed singles. Meg’s scathing “Hiss” track — which takes aim at the likes of Tory Lanez, Nicki Minaj and Drake — soared to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February.
“I was inspired to create this album about rebirth because I feel I am becoming a new person physically and mentally,” Meg added.
Her upcoming LP does not yet have a release date. Megan Thee Stallion’s last album, Traumazine, arrived in August 2022 and debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200.
Check out Megan Thee Stallion’s Women’s Health cover below.
Ramona Rosales for Women’s Health
Sharon Osbourne is getting vulnerable about a difficult time in her life. While speaking onstage during her Sharon Osbourne: Cut the Crap show in London over the weekend (Jan. 21), the star opened up about her suicide attempt after discovering that her husband, Ozzy Osbourne, had been unfaithful. “He always, always had groupies and I […]
Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch has invested in Atlantic Behavioral Health, a new mental health treatment center serving Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The center focuses on anxiety, depression and other mental health disorders, combining individual therapy, group therapy and medication management. “Partnering with Atlantic is so personal to me and not just another business to invest in,” said Welch in a statement. “I know what it feels like to live at the bottom of a dark pit, but I also know if you put in the work, the light will come back on, and Atlantic is going to help so many people find that light switch.”
Tune.FM, a Web3 decentralized music streaming platform with an integrated music NFT marketplace, received $20 million in funding from investment group LDA Capital. Tune.FM allows artists to monetize their fanbases through streaming royalty micropayments and digital music collectibles with exclusive unlockable experiences powered by the JAM token ($JAM) using Hedera Hashgraph distributed ledger technology. Tune.FM will use the funds to grow its user base, expand its development team, launch new products and increase liquidity for the JAM token internationally.
iHeartMedia has formed a strategic collaboration with Zigazoo Kids, which encompasses social networks Zigazoo (for children 13 and up) and Zigazoo Kids (for children under 13). Under the deal, the companies will explore opportunities between iHeartMedia’s portfolio of music and podcasts and Zigazoo’s content. iHeartMedia will additionally launch a national, multi-million-dollar campaign across its multiplatform audio network to stoke further awareness of Zigazoo’s social networks.
Independent radio promotions firms Your Army and Strange Loop Promo have merged. Under the deal, both companies will now operate under the Your Army banner out of offices in L.A., New York and Vancouver, Canada.
The U.K. office of Believe has signed a long-term label solutions partnership with Mahogany, the global multi-platform music brand behind the Mahogany Sessions YouTube channel. Under the agreement, Mahogany will handle global distribution for Mahogany’s label, Mahogany Records, along with its video platforms Mahogany Sessions, COVERS and Lagoon. Mahogany will additionally work with Believe’s audience development team to develop the global reach of its imprints across established and developing markets and expand their content into new territories, genres and audio-visual formats. Forthcoming plans include the public launch of Mahogany’s bespoke digital distribution service, Mahogany Songs.
Sony Music Masterworks has formed a strategic venture with London-based live entertainment company Roast Productions. Operating internationally, Roast Productions produces theater, concerts and family entertainment events. Founders Bonnie Royal and Michael Stevens will continue leading Roast’s day-to-day operations while partnering with Masterworks on developing a range of new productions. They will work closely with Masterworks president Mark Cavell and Ollie Rosenblatt, founder/CEO of U.K.-based producer/promoter Senbla.
Comedy festival SF Sketchfest has partnered with livestreaming platform Veeps to stream five of its featured shows exclusively on the platform between Jan. 21 and Feb. 4. The shows to be livestreamed are: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s Let’s Make A Poop!, Kids in the Hall: Scenes They Wouldn’t Let Us Do, Varietopia with Paul F. Tompkins, Hello From Magic Tavern and The Trav-enture Zone: A Night of Dungeons & Dragons & Also Comedians. The Kids in the Hall and Tompkins shows will only stream live; the others will be available to replay for 48 hours.
ASM Global has announced a new naming rights partnership with Strawberry Hotel Group that begins in July. Under the deal, ASM will rename the former Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, to Strawberry Arena.
Artelize — a platform that uses artificial intelligence to collect information about concerts and events in opera, classical music, ballet and dance, musicals, spoken theater and jazz, allowing artists and producers to quickly create posts that promote their upcoming events — has closed a pre-seed funding round of €1 million ($1.09 million) led by Bjørn Bruun, founder of Danish fashion brand Bruuns Bazaar, along with other angel investors. Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, Artelize also received a government grant from the Danish Innobooster Programme and a loan facility from the Danish Export and Investment fund as part of the round. The funding will allow Artelize, which is mainly focused on the U.S. market, to expand into the United Kingdom and Europe.
ADA Italy has signed a distribution deal with LaTarma Records. Founded by Marta Donà, LaTarma’s roster includes Ale, Giovanni Toscano, Dolcedormire, Matteo Crea and Angelina Mango.
Production music company ALIBI Music has signed Cadence Music Group as its new synch agent for Canada.
Corey Taylor has cancelled his previously announced North American solo tour. The Slipknot frontman took to Instagram on Friday (Jan. 5) to reveal the news, citing struggles with his mental and physical health. “For the past several months my mental and physical health have been breaking down, and I reached a place that was unhealthy […]
Billie Eilish knows that great art sometimes comes from the darkest places. And on Thursday night (Jan. 4) at the Palm Springs Film Awards, the 22-year-old singer accepted the Chairman’s Award in honor of her Golden Globe and Grammy-nominated Barbie soundtrack hit “What Was I Made For?” with an emotional speech dedicated to anyone struggling with thoughts of despair she knows all too well.
“I would really like to say that this award and any recognition that this song gets, I just want to dedicate to anyone who experiences hopelessness, the feeling of existential dread and feeling like, what’s the point, why am I here and why am I doing this?,” Eilish said while accepting the award alongside her brother/producer, Finneas, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The pair picked up the honor — marking the first time it’s been given to a musician — after a tribute from Barbie director Greta Gerwig. “I think we all feel like that occasionally, but I think if somebody like me, with the amount of privilege that I have and the incredible things that I get to do and be and how I have really not wanted to be here… sorry to be dark, damn, but I’ve spent a lot of time feeling that way,” Eilish continued.
The singer — who has openly and frequently discussed her mental health struggles — also shared a message of hope for others who have felt similar despair. “I just want to say to anyone that feels that way, be patient with yourself and know that it is, I think, worth it all,” Eilish said, adding that “it’s good to be alive now” after not feeling that way for “a very long time.”
Eilish shared that Gerwig approached the siblings about contributing to the hit movie’s soundtrack at a point when the singer was “in a dark episode and things didn’t make sense in life. I just didn’t understand what the point was and why you would keep going. Just questioning everything in the world.”
But after she and Finneas sat in a theater and screened around 35 minutes of footage, Eilish said she was overcome with emotion watching Margot Robbie’s Barbie saying and feeling things “that I really, really, really resonated with and felt so close to. I felt so seen, and I did not expect that.” The result was the hushed, emotional ballad whose spare, thoughtful lyrics plumb existential questions in a most elegant way. “I don’t know how to feel/ But I wanna try/ I don’t know how to feel/ But someday I might/ Someday I might,” she sings on the track.
“I think that this movie is the most incredible, most empowering and beautiful and funny and just unbelievable piece of art in the world, and I’m so, so honored to be a part of it,” Eilish added before turning the mic over to her brother, who used his time to pay tribute to their parents, Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell.
“Our parents were theater people before they were our parents. They met on a flight to Alaska to do regional theater in 1984, and in the ‘90s they got married to each other and decided to start a family,” he said. “They decided that it might be a good idea to move from New York where they were doing plays to Los Angeles to maybe do some things that would make some residual income like film and television. That didn’t work out at all, and I think it underscored as children that it was okay to have dreams that didn’t pan out the way that you thought they might. And it also underscored that the entertainment industry, like all industries, is fairly unfair.”
Despite their struggle, though, Finneas said the siblings were not raised by “bitter people who hadn’t gotten to achieve their dreams. We were raised by people who did nothing but encourage us to believe in ourselves and pursue the dreams and passions that we had. I don’t particularly know how they were able to do both of those things, but they were, and we’d be nothing and nowhere without our parents, and I love them so much.”
“What Was I Made For?” is nominated for best original song at Sunday night’s (Jan. 7) 81st annual Golden Globe Awards, as well as record of the year, song of the year, best pop solo performance, best song written for visual media and best music video at the upcoming (Feb. 4) Grammy Awards.
Watch footage of Eilish’s speech below.
While accepting Chairman’s Award during Palm Springs Film Awards, Billie Eilish opens up on “dark episode” and feeling like she didn’t want to be here anymore prior to writing hit Barbie song. #PSIFF2024 pic.twitter.com/DnvZy0bJ1l— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) January 5, 2024
If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
Shawn Mendes has grown immensely throughout 2023. The “In My Blood” singer took to Instagram on Tuesday (Jan. 2) to reflect on the past year, alongside a video of himself freely singing along to a harmonium. “Over the last year i spent a lot of time singing like this.. I found that in moments of […]
K-pop superstar Rosé said Friday (Nov. 17) at a mental health awareness event hosted by first lady Jill Biden that it’s important for the world to understand that famous people grapple with emotional struggles, too.
“I think that would be very great, for everybody who works under the public eye,” she said, perched on a slate gray couch at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, Calif., after hugging the first lady, who thanked her for coming.
Rosé, a part of the supergroup BLACKPINK, said having a large social media following makes her feel vulnerable, particularly when people are critical.
“I do feel like some of the things I do is just never enough, and no matter how hard I work on something, there’s always gonna be somebody who has their own opinion or who enjoy taking control of the narrative,” she said. “And so, that comes to me as a sense of loneliness.”
She said it was important to talk about such things, however difficult it may be.
“Just as we feed ourselves for better health and fitness, mental health can only be maintained equally — if not more intentionally — as our physical well being.”
The discussion was part of several events hosted by Jill Biden for the spouses of Asia-Pacific leaders in California this week for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
“People who are older — we never, ever spoke about mental health,” Biden said. “There was shame attached to it. But what I find as a teacher — and having my own younger grandchildren in their twenties — I think they’re much more open to talking to one another, I think there’s far less shame.”
The event was moderated by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the event but blanked briefly when the teleprompter went out.
“Don’t you hate that. I hate that,” Biden said. Cook recovered, telling the crowd he’d “go ahead and ad lib,” then thanked everyone for coming and introduced the first lady.
Cook later defended his tech company’s privacy standards when Wan Azizah binti Wan Ismail of Malaysia mentioned how artificial intelligence and manipulation can affect mental health, asking the CEO about protections on technology to protect people’s private information.
“If you’ve ever had an Apple watch, you are being watched all the time,” she said.
“Absolutely not actually,” Cook responded. “We believe that privacy is a fundamental human right.”
Kim Keon Hee, the first lady of South Korea, Rachael Marape, the spouse of the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, and Louise Araneta-Marcos, the first lady of the Philippines, also attended.