We Applaud These Black Celebs For Helping To Erase Mental Health Stigmas With Their Testimonies

Outside of his mainstay gig on The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne Tha God (real name Lenard McKelvey) is making it his mission to encourage Black folks to seek therapy. While promoting his latest book Shook Ones: Anxiety Playing Tricks On Me, Charlamagne told The Hill that he understands why seeking help is so taboo in the Black community. “It’s hard to get help when you’re still in the middle of the hurt – If you’re still in the hood, if you’re still in these bad situations, it’s hard to see yourself on the outside,” he said.

Janet Jackson, who was our ESSENCE July/August 2018 cover girl, told us exclusively that depression and feelings of inadequacy have followed her since childhood. “I wasn’t happy with the way I looked. For most of my life, that lack of happiness followed me,” she wrote. “I wish someone had said, ‘You look fine. You look healthy. Being a little chubby is the least important thing in the world. Enjoy your childhood. Enjoy running and laughing and playing. Stop looking in the mirror and comparing yourself to others.”

During the 2019 Black Women in Hollywood event, ESSENCE had the opportunity to honor the incomparable Jenifer Lewis. During her speech, the veteran actress, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, opened up about mental illness and finding the strength “to say three of the most powerful words on this planet: please, help me.” She says asking for helping was one of the hardest and best things she’s done. “You know how hard that was for me?” Lewis asked rhetorically. “But I did it…..and I got it. Seventeen years on that couch, I had to be re-raised.”

During a discussion on her popular Red Table Talk Facebook Watch show, Jada Pinkett-Smith opened up about her mental health struggles, including a brief period in her 20s when she considered herself “extremely suicidal.” Ultimately, Pinkett Smith has since been able to overcome depression, but reveals that a lot of the healing came from “uprooting some false beliefs” and accepting “just what life is.”

After taking a one-year hiatus, Big Sean celebrated his 31st birthday by sharing exactly why he took the much-needed time off to heal. “I been meditating since I was seventeen years old. That helps with anxiety, depression, all them things. It wasn’t doing it all the way for this, so I knew this required some special attention.” He says therapy became a game changer. “I got a good therapist. I was blessed enough to talk to some super spiritual people. They made me realize one thing I was missing in my life, and the one thing I was missing was clarity.”

Jay-Z is not only a staunch advocate of mental health resources being placed in public schools…he also hasn’t been afraid to discuss his own experiences with getting help. In a sit down with The New York Times in promotion of his 4:44 album, the rapper revealed that he found his therapist recommended by a friend. “I grew so much from the experience. But I think the most important thing I got is that everything is connected. Every emotion is connected and it comes from somewhere. And just being aware of it. Being aware of it in everyday life puts you at such a … you’re at such an advantage.”

Taraji P. Henson is one of the most vocal and active celebrities combating the stigma about mental health in the Black community right now. The Empire actress, who launched the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation in 2018 in memory of her late father, says therapy has been a game-changer in her life and it can be for so many others. “I suffer from depression, ” Henson told Variety. “[Therapy] is the only way I can get through it. You can talk to your friends, but you need a professional who can give you exercises.”

Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald spoke to Alec Baldwin on his Here’s The Thing podcast about how “not being able to admit to anybody at home what was going on,” and “not being able to go home because I would look like a failure” almost caused her to take her own life. Thankfully, she can look back at the situation having come out on the other side. “They helped me and took me to a mental hospital,” she admits. “It’s interesting, this mental hospital – still there – Gracie Square Hospital. It’s next door to my OBGYN who delivered my [baby.] I had to pass it every week to go to my OBGYN appointment. And every time I passed it there was a part of me, just waddling down the street as pregnant as can be, some 29 years later, I felt such relief and joy. And a sense of yes, I get the big picture now.”

In 2011, NFL star Brandon Marshall was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) – a mental illness characterized by unstable emotions, relationships and behaviors. Instead of hiding his dianosis in shame, Marshall and his wife become advocates for awareness around mental illness with their Project 375 foundation. “I used to think that mental health meant mental toughness and masking pain,” Marshall says. “I was raised in a community where you didn’t admit to any weakness. As a football player, you never show weakness to your opponent. But when you think about it, connecting with those emotions is the real strength.”

The former Destiny’s Child let the world in on her mental health journey and the decision to get the help she needed with severe depression. After stepping away from her role on the Broadway play Once On This Island, Williams issued a statement about her journey to recovery. “For years I have dedicated myself to increasing awareness of mental health and empowering people to recognize when it’s time to seek help, support and guidance from those that love and care for your wellbeing,” Williams wrote in July. “Today I proudly, happily and healthily stand here as someone who will continue to always lead by example as I tirelessly advocate for the betterment of those in need, if you change your mind, you can change your life.”

In 2016, Kid Cudi let his fans in on the news that he had checked into rehab for depression and suicidal urges. Two years later (December 2018) the artist sat down with Red Table Talk and described how he arrived at the decision to get sober and aligned. “I was really worried, and I kinda like had that moment where I was just like, ‘Do I really wanna get back on drugs and do cocaine again? Do I really wanna go back on this journey at 32?’ I woke up one morning, and I was just thinking like, ‘Man, this isn’t healthy. And I don’t know what else to do but get some help and find some place I can go.’ And I found a place.”

The actress and television host spoke exclusively with ESSENCE about her experience with anxiety and depression, saying, “We all have our trials and errors with different things in our lives. Everything is not the end of the world. I realized, as I got older, I would love to have told myself that.”