It’s been three years since Robin Williams committed suicide. Whether you liked him as an actor or not, he was undoubtedly the one who could bring smile to the faces of hundreds of millions people. In his private life though, he suffered to the extent that he decided to take his own life.
It seems to me that it was a trigger for many celebrities, as well as other public persons, to open up and share their own stories. They started speaking about their own troubles with depression, anxieties and even suicide thoughts. Katy Perry is one of them.
Katy Perry has been in therapy for five years. She was participating in a program called Witness Worldwide and as a part of that, she livestreamed her own therapy session. So far, around 3,000,000 people watched it. I don’t want to spoil it now, because I’d like you to watch it first, at least a part of it.
What I am going to tell you is that Katy Perry was very open about how she was dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts. She spoke about the Katy Perry brand and how that is different from Katheryn Hudson, which is her real name. It’s amazing to see how much can she really share publicly. I go to therapy as well and I have troubles speak about some things even when it’s strictly between my and my therapist.
The biggest thing that caught me by surprise was the how Katy Perry was missing the quiet life of Kathryn Hudson, when she didn’t have to care what she wears and how she looks like. How hard and overwhelming it is to be Katy Perry when she wants to be a small Kathryn and relax. And what it makes with her life.
I honestly can’t imagine more the one can do to fight mental health stigma and raise awareness. What Katy Perry did is amazing and I’m sure that it has helped many people open they eyes and start realizing that mental health is a real thing and it can happen to everybody.
Let share stories like this one to contribute and help the people that silently suffer and are afraid to share their problems with anyone.
Image: By Lunchbox LP [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons