Celebrities' Battling Depression Quotes
by Shannon Peel
According to the media, celebrities have the best lives, so what in the world would they have to get depressed about? Turns out, depression and anxiety go with the job.
We can get enough of celebrities' stories, especially if they fall from their pedestals, high above us lowly mortals. Considering the pressures, reversals of fortune, and the constant judgmental eye of the media, both traditional and social, I'm surprised they aren't all walking around depressed.
Twenty to thirty years ago, any sign of vulnerability, weakness, or emotional breakdowns would have been a career killer. Thankfully, we've come a long way in just a few decades and we are having conversations about mental health and celebrities are inspiring others to get help and to be strong in their battle with depression.
When I was a teenager, movies like Dead Poets Society and Heathers were beginning to explore darker topics of being a teenager. Today, teens have more resources, less morality shame, and a world of advice, yet suicide continues to rise to highs my generation never saw. In a world where fear leads our daily newsfeeds and global events disrupt our lives, it is important to continue to have an open dialogue about mental health with our teens.
The more we talk about it, the less judgemental we are, and the more open to supporting those who battle depression, the better the chance society will find a way to improve the mental health of the next generation.
Celebrities are leading the discussion by sharing their battles with depression and anxiety with the world and inspiring people to ask for help. Here are some celebrity quotes on depression.
When I did a search for quotes about depression, I was stunned at how many celebrities were being quoted. As I read the quotes, I started to see how their experiences were telling a story about mental health and those who suffer from depression and anxiety.
If you love someone who is battling depression and you want to better understand what they are going through, read the following quotes about living with depression.
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What is Depression.
Quotes by Celebrities
“Depression is your body saying, ‘I don’t want to be this character anymore. I don’t want to hold up this avatar that you’ve created in the world. It’s too much for me. You should think of the word ‘depressed’ as ‘deep rest.’ Your body needs to be depressed. It needs deep rest from the character that you’ve been trying to play.” — Jim Carrey
“It's so difficult to describe [depression] to someone who's never been there, because it's not sadness, but it's that cold absence of feeling -- that really hollowed-out feeling.” -- JK Rowling
"I was raised in a place where if you have fame and money and you’re decent-looking and have the ability to work in this industry, you have everything in the world," Angelina Jolie "Then you attain those things and realize you still couldn’t be more empty. I didn’t know where to put myself."
"The depression I experienced [felt] like a chemical change," Sarah Silverman
"It was like my perspective of the world changed about three degrees, and everything I saw was different."
"It’s that absence of feeling—and it’s even the absence of hope that you can feel better. And it’s so difficult to describe to someone who’s never been there because it’s not sadness. Sadness is...I know sadness is not a bad thing. To cry and to feel. But it’s that cold absence of feeling—that really hollowed-out feeling. That’s what the Dementors are. And it was because of my daughter that I went and got help." -- J.K. Rowling
Understanding Depression Quotes by Celebrities
“Try to understand the blackness, lethargy, hopelessness, and loneliness they’re going through. Be there for them when they come through the other side. It’s hard to be a friend to someone who’s depressed, but it is one of the kindest, noblest, and best things you will ever do.” ― Stephen Fry
“I was 25 years old. I had my own TV show. I was happy with my work, but I couldn’t figure out what it was; it doesn’t always make sense is my point. It’s not just people who can’t find a job, or can’t fit in in society that struggle with depression sometimes.” — Jared Padalecki
“What I would tell kids going through anxiety, which I have and can relate to, is that you’re so normal. Everyone experiences a version of anxiety or worry in their lives, and maybe we go through it in a different or more intense way for longer periods of time, but there’s nothing wrong with you. To be a sensitive person that cares a lot, that takes things in in a deep way is actually part of what makes you amazing… I wouldn’t trade it for the world, even when there are really hard times. Don’t ever feel like you’re a weirdo for it because we’re all weirdos.” — Emma Stone
“Ive suffered through depression and anxiety my entire life, and I still suffer with it every single day,” she said. “I just want these kids to know that the depth that they feel as human beings is normal. We were born that way.” -- Lady Gaga
"It means so much when you realize that someone was having a really hard time and feeling shame and was trying to hide this whole thing." -- Winona Ryder
"I had no motivation to do anything or go out," she said. "Even with my best friends, I wouldn't want to see them, I wouldn't want to go out and eat with them." -- Sophie Turner
Living with Depression Quotes by Celebrities
“All it takes is a beautiful fake smile to hide an injured soul and they will never notice how broken you really are.” — Robin Williams
“I didn’t want my picture taken because I was going to cry. I didn’t know why I was going to cry, but I knew that if anybody spoke to me or looked at me too closely the tears would fly out of my eyes and the sobs would fly out of my throat and I’d cry for a week. I could feel the tears brimming and sloshing in me like water in a glass that is unsteady and too full.” ― Sylvia Plath
“In the silence of night I have often wished for just a few words of love from one man, rather than the applause of thousands of people.” ― Judy Garland
“I didn’t know why I was feeling anxious or what was wrong with me, when I would go into public and feeling like I could vomit. I didn’t know why I wanted to sit on a couch while I was supposedly becoming something that everyone was so excited for me.” — Goldie Hawn
“I’m very available to depression. I can slip in and out of it quite easily. It started when my granddad died, when I was about 10, and while I never had a suicidal thought, I have been in therapy, lots.” — Adele
“I moved out of L.A., went into a severe depression, started seeing a therapist and had to go on antidepressants for the first time in my life. It was scary and lonely. I can’t believe I came back from that point.” — Ellen DeGeneres
“I had everything I needed to be happy. And yet, for much of the last year, I felt unhappy. I started taking an antidepressant, which helped and I started sharing the news with friends and family—I felt like everyone deserved an explanation, and I didn’t know how else to say it other than the only way I know: just saying it. It got easier and easier to say it aloud every time.” — Chrissy Teigen
“I felt plagued with a negative attitude and a sense that I was permanently in the shade. I’m normally such a bubbly, positive person, and all of a sudden I stopped feeling like myself. Anyone can be affected, despite their level of success or their place on the food chain. In fact, there is a good chance you know someone who is struggling with it since nearly 20% of American adults face some form of mental illness in their lifetime. So why aren’t we talking about it?” — Kristen Bell
“I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle.” — Prince Harry
“After every Olympics I think I fell into a major state of depression, and after 2012 that was probably the hardest fall for me. I didn’t want to be in the sport anymore…a year and a half, two years after that…I didn’t want to be alive anymore. I think people actually finally understand it’s real. People are talking about it and I think this is the only way that it can change.” — Michael Phelps
“I disliked myself so intensely. It was just a mindset. I didn’t know how to love myself. I didn’t know how to love anybody.” — Anne Hathaway
“I went through a time where I was really depressed. Like, I locked myself in my room and my dad had to break my door down. It was a lot to do with, like, I had really bad skin, and I felt really bullied because of that. But I never was depressed because of the way someone else made me feel, I just was depressed.” — Miley Cyrus
" For a time, it [medication] would work well. Then it worked less and my pain was more. I would go through wild bouts of depression, horrible comedowns. I understand why kids kill themselves. I absolutely do. You feel terrible. You feel soul-less." — Channing Tatum
“I was angry, cynical and had this deep sadness like an anchor dragging everywhere I go. I just didn’t feel like fighting anymore. I didn’t feel like standing up for myself one more time – to one more person who lied to me. I really felt like I was dying – my light completely out. I said to myself, ‘Whatever is left in there, even just one light molecule, you will find it and make it multiply. You have to for you. You have to for your music. You have to for your fans and your family.’” -- Lady Gaga
“I felt like a zombie. I couldn’t access my heart. I couldn’t access my emotions. I couldn’t connect,” “I thought postpartum depression meant you were sobbing every single day and incapable of looking after a child,” “But there are different shades of it and depths of it, which is why I think it’s so important for women to talk about it. It was a trying time. I felt like a failure.” -- Gwyneth Paltrow
"Sometimes I feel like it’s a lifelong struggle…I try to not isolate myself as much. It is really hard. People that are sensitive, you just feel too porous sometimes. There’s this inertia that sets in, and it’s hard to get out of bed," Carrie Brownstein
"Depression was my life for five years straight. I think before I turned 26, there was like this weird time in my life [where] I think I was kind of on autopilot for about five years. Kinda just going through the motions and figuring out who I am and just doing the best I could and then slowly but surely doing that," Selena Gomez’s
"So many of my friends would say, 'How can you feel like that?' and, 'But you’re so lucky,' and I’d be like, I know, trust me, I know. I know I’m the luckiest girl in the world, I understand all of these things, and I wish I could appreciate it. There is just something dark within me I cannot seem to shake. -- Cara Delevingne
How to Battle Depression Quotes by Celebrities
“It’s my mission to share this with the world and to let them know that there is life on the other side of those dark times that seem so hopeless and helpless. I want to show the world that there is life — surprising, wonderful and unexpected life after diagnosis.” — Demi Lovato
“I tend to get pretty depressed and I have some issues with anxiety and things like that … For me, it’s more psychological. Exercise is a means of expelling those demons.” — Ryan Reynolds
"Since that day [I opened up about my emotions], it's just been so much easier to live and so much easier to enjoy life." — Michael Phelps
“I just accepted depression as something that’s part of my anatomy; it’s part of my chemistry, it’s part of my biology.” She continued: “When it’s too big for me to just turn around on my own, I see a therapist...We should all see a therapist.” -- Gabourey Sidibe
Songs about being depressed or suicidal or completely just against-yourself—some adults think that’s bad, but I feel that seeing that someone else feels just as horrible as you do is a comfort. It’s a good feeling. It’s someone to scream with.” “Kids use my songs as a hug,” Billie Eilish
"I talk to someone regularly. It has to be regularly, and that’s what I learned. It gets frustrating because you’re waiting for them to fix you, but it’s not that easy. "I had to go through several therapists that I felt comfortable talking to, or that I felt was moving me forward and that I was making some progress with, and that takes time. I remember the first time I went, I was angry, because I was like, 'She didn’t tell me nothing! She didn’t tell me anything!' You’re not going to figure it all out in one sitting." -- Taraji P. Henson
"I struggled with chronic depression. I was in bad shape," "I did do therapy and antidepressants for a brief period, which helped me. 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.'" -- Jon Hamm
"I kind of clawed my way back to some sort of rational thought." -- Cara Delevingne
But the biggest thing about self-care is to be gentle with yourself and remember there’s no one way up that mountain." -- Jonathan Van Ness
Words of Wisdom Quotes by Celebrities
“If you have been brutally broken but still have the courage to be gentle to other living beings, then you’re a badass with a heart of an angel.” — Keanu Reeves
“Depression doesn’t take away your talents—it just makes them harder to find.” — Lady Gaga
“I found that with depression, one of the most important things you could realize is that you’re not alone.” — Dwayne Johnson
“It is okay to have depression, it is okay to have anxiety and it is okay to have an adjustment disorder. We need to improve the conversation. We all have mental health in the same way we all have physical health.” — Prince Harry
“You can’t pay enough money to cure that feeling of being broken and confused. It’s not like every day’s been great ever since. You have good days and bad days, and depression’s something that, y’know, is always with you.” -- Winona Ryder
“I've suffered through depression and anxiety my entire life, and I still suffer with it every single day,” she said. “I just want these kids to know that the depth that they feel as human beings is normal. We were born that way.” -- Lady Gaga
"I have struggled for a long time, both being public and not public about my mental health issues or my mental illness. But I truly believe that secrets keep you sick," -- Lady Gaga
How to Battle Depression and Win
There is no denying that this is a difficult time for anyone who sought support from others outside of the home, regardless of whom they live with.
Dealing with change in lifestyle is difficult even when one is excited about the changes. When a negative change is forced upon you, the ground is fertile for hopelessness and depression to take root.
This can happen at any time, not just during a Pandemic shut down. It can happen when someone you love dies, you experience divorce, your kids move out, you get fired or laid off, an investment tanks, your business goes belly up, you are in financial trouble, and when the world pushes you behind closed doors.
Battling Depression Quote:
“I have depression. But I prefer to say, ‘I battle’ depression instead of ‘I suffer’ with it. Because depression hits, but I hit back. Battle on.” — Anonymous
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