Celebrities Who Have Battled Mental Health Issues — From Ariana Grande to Kanye West and More

Katy Perry

Katy found comfort in her faith after she felt really low following her split from Orlando. Although the couple went through a rough patch, they soon reconciled and are doing better than ever.

Selena Gomez

While the former Disney star has previously been open about her struggles with mental health, she revealed in April 2020 she has bipolar disorder.

“Recently, I went to one of the best mental hospitals in the world … And I discussed that after years of going through a lot of different things I realized that I was bipolar,” Selena she said on “Bright Minded: Live” With Miley Cyrus. She said educating herself on the topic helped her with her fear.

Jonathan Van Ness

In his book, Over the Top, the Queer Eye star opened up about his mental health issues and revealed he’s HIV positive. He has continued to be vocal about self-care and is an advocate for therapy.

Shia LaBeouf

The Transformers actor revealed life as a child star contributed to his mental health struggles in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter in October 2019. “I knew it was an issue but didn’t know there was this extra whole other thing that was hindering my ability to have any peace in my life and my ability to deal with people,” he said.

Kristen Bell

The Gossip Girl alum felt she was “incredibly irresponsible” for not sharing her mental health issues with her fans in the past.

“Everyone thinks there’s some shame in it … I am someone who takes a medication for her anxiety and depression. I am someone who has to check myself and sometimes — if I’m feeling really low — make a checklist of good and bad things in my life to see if it’s my mental state or if we really have a problem. And me talking about that actually came from [my husband, Dax Shepard] — ugh, I hate to give him credit for everything, it’s so annoying that he’s so right about everything,” she said on Sunday Today With Willie Geist in November 2019.

Pete Davidson

In 2018, Pete Davidson addressed a rather disturbing Instagram post on Saturday Night Live that made people worry he was suicidal. He made a joke about it then, but Davidson has seriously spoken out about his mental health struggles before.

At the time he wrote, “I’ve been getting online bullied and in public by people for [nine] months. I’ve spoken about BPD and being suicidal publicly only in the hopes that it will help bring awareness and help kids like myself who don’t want to be on this earth … I just want you guys to know. No matter how hard the internet or anyone tries to make me kill myself. I won’t. I’m upset I even have to say this. To all those holding me down and seeing this for what it is — I see you and I love you.”

Sarah Hyland

Sarah Hyland from Modern Family actress revealed in December 2018 that she had suicidal thoughts after going through two kidney transplants as she battled kidney dysplasia.

“I was very, very, very close,” Hyland told Ellen DeGeneres the following month. “I would write letters in my head to loved ones — of why I did it, my reasoning behind it, how it’s nobody’s fault. And I didn’t want to write it down on paper because I didn’t want anyone to find it. … I didn’t want anyone to know I was that close because if I knew, they would try to persuade me.”

Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert told Rolling Stone in August 2018 that he was medicated for anxiety when he was younger. He also explained, “I had a bit of a nervous breakdown after I got married — kind of panic attacks. My wife would go off to work and she’d come home — because I worked at night — and I’d be walking around the couch. And she’s like, ‘How was your day?’ And I’d say, ‘You’re looking at it.'”

Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande told Elle in July 2018 that after the 2017 Manchester bombing, “I got home from tour, I had really wild dizzy spells, this feeling like I couldn’t breathe. I would be in a good mood, fine and happy, and they would hit me out of nowhere. I’ve always had anxiety, but it had never been physical before. There were a couple of months straight where I felt so upside down.”

Kanye West

Kanye West actually rapped about his bipolar disorder diagnosis on the song “Ye.” He told Big Boy TV in June 2018 that he was “diagnosed with a mental condition” when he was 39 and that “I think everybody got something. But like I said on the album, it’s not a disability. It’s a superpower.”

In July 2020, he began tweeting about wanting to divorce wife Kim Kardashian and claiming she was trying to “lock [him] up.” The KUWTK star addressed the situation on July 22 via Instagram.

“As many of you know, Kanye has bipolar disorder. Anyone who has this or has a loved one in their life who does knows how incredibly complicated and painful it is to understand,” part of her statement read. “Living with bipolar disorder does not diminish or invalidate his dreams and his creative ideas, no matter how big or unobtainable they may feel to some. That is part of his genius and as we have all witnessed, many of his big dreams have come true.”

David Harbour

Actor David Harbour from Stranger Things revealed on the podcast “WTF With Marc Maron” in June 2018 that he was once committed to a mental asylum after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 25.

“I was actually — by my parents — taken into a mental asylum,” he explained. He continued, “That’s actually when the drugs came in. I’ve been medicated bipolar for a long time. And I’ve had problems going on and off. I’ve had a struggle, going on and off the medications.”

Karamo Brown

Karamo Brown, one of the stars of Queer Eye, told TODAY in June 2018, “When I was 22, going on 23, I just got out of MTV’s ‘Real World,’ it was my first time on television, and literally after that show, I went through a very strong amount of depression to the point where I actually contemplated suicide.”

He added, “Literally, I look back on it now and I often think to myself, ‘Karamo you should have done better.’ But that’s the thing when you’re in that dark space, you can’t do any better. And it’s for people around you to say: ‘You know what, I need to check in with you and be there to support you.'”

Mariah Carey

Yes, even divas struggle with their mental health. Mariah Carey was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder in 2001 after being hospitalized for a physical and mental breakdown, Us Weekly reported.

She told People in April 2018, “I didn’t want to believe it … Until recently I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear someone would expose me. It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that anymore.”

Tyler Baltierra

Tyler Baltierra from the Teen Mom franchise is very open with his fans and followers about his mental health struggles. He revealed on the second part of the Teen Mom OG reunion in April 2018 that he was diagnosed bipolar, Us Weekly reported.

Tyler also talked about his mental health on the “Voices For Change 2.0” podcast in March 2018. He said at the time that he attempted suicide at age 11 and that as an adult, he regularly attends therapy. Good for him!

Rene Russo

Rene Russo revealed on The Queen Latifah Show in October 2014 that she has bipolar disorder and takes medication for it, Us Weekly reported. “For all the people that are having trouble and maybe feel bad about taking medication … it’s OK — you will make it through,” she said. “It’s not easy but you will make it through.”

Bryce Dallas Howard

Ron Howard’s daughter Bryce Dallas Howard struggled with postpartum depression following the February 2007 birth of her son, Theodore, according to Us Weekly.

“It went untreated for 18 months because I was just so ashamed and frightened,” she told the magazine in 2013. “I didn’t know what it meant and didn’t know what happened to me … You can’t raise kids alone, you can’t heal alone — you really need a community.”

Jon Hamm

Jon Hamm told The Observer in September 2010 that he once “struggled with chronic depression.” “I did do therapy and antidepressants for a brief period, which helped me,” he revealed. “Which is what therapy does: it gives you another perspective when you are so lost in your own spiral, your own bullshit. It helps. And honestly? Antidepressants help! If you can change your brain chemistry enough to think: ‘I want to get up in the morning; I don’t want to sleep until four in the afternoon. I want to get up and go do my shit and go to work and …’ Reset the auto-meter, kick-start the engine!”

Emma Thomspon

Emma Thomspon has dealt with clinical depression at different times in her life, Us Weekly reported. She once told The Hollywood Reporter, “I suffer from occasional mild depression, which I think is a very common thing — it’s fantastically common in my country and probably in yours, too — and it’s a very much hidden thing people don’t talk about. I think it should be discussed.”

Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato checked into rehab for “emotional and physical issues” in 2010. “I had no idea that I was even bipolar until I went into treatment,” she once revealed to Robin Roberts. “I was conquering the world, but then I would come crashing down, and I would be more depressed than ever.”

Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher was extremely open about her struggles with mental health when she was alive. In December 2016, Rolling Stone wrote that she, “embraced her illnesses — bipolar disorder, alcoholism, drug addiction, and ‘serious body dysmorphia issues’” — before her death and tried to normalize them. She told Vanity Fair in November 2009, “The fact that I can make somebody laugh at this stuff — it can be very cathartic. If you claim something, you can own it. But if you have it as a shameful secret, you’re f–ked.”

Pete Wentz

In Playboy‘s October 2008 issue, Pete Wentz opened up about his mental health, Us Weekly reported. “The list of drugs I’ve been prescribed would read like a grocery list,” he noted. He also said he once “took a handful of Ativan” but wasn’t trying to kill himself. “I’ve never really called it a suicide attempt,” he explained. “I just wanted my head to be completely turned off.”

Zach Braff

Zach Braff reportedly told Parade magazine in 2007 that he related to his character in Garden State because “I think I suffer from some mild depression. So to have millions of people go, ‘I watched your movie and related,’ was the ultimate affirmation that I’m not a freak.”

Halle Berry

Halle Berry admitted to a suicide attempt in 2007. She explained to Parade magazine that she was so depressed following her 1997 breakup from her ex-husband, “I was sitting in my car, and I knew the gas was coming when I had an image of my mother finding me. She sacrificed so much for her children, and to end my life would be an incredibly selfish thing to do.” But, she continued, “My sense of worth was so low. I had to reprogram myself to see the good in me. Because someone didn’t love me didn’t mean I was unlovable. I promised myself I would never be a coward again.”

Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd wrote about her struggle with depression in the autobiography All That Is Bitter & Sweet, Us Weekly reported. The outlet reported that she once said on TODAY, “I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I just didn’t know what was wrong with me … I looked really good on the outside, and I had a lot of anxiety, insomnia … I needed to find a power greater than myself …”

Paula Deen

Us Weekly reported that after she lost her dad when she was 19, Paula Deen started having panic attacks and anxiety issues. She went on to battle a 20-year bout with depression and agoraphobia.

Bebe Rexha

In April 2019, the star opened up about her mental health struggles on Twitter, sharing that she has bipolar disorder.

“For the longest time, I didn’t understand why I felt so sick. Why I felt lows that made me not want to leave my house or be around people and why I felt highs that wouldn’t let me sleep, wouldn’t let me stop working or creating music. Now I know why,” she wrote. “I’m bipolar and I’m not ashamed anymore. That is all,” she continued, telling fans that she was crying her eyes out. “I don’t want you to feel sorry for me. I just want you to accept me. That’s all. Love you.”