health

"Miranda Kerr has opened up about her darkest moment. And it's made me so happy."

Celebrities rarely talk about mental illness.

It’s no secret that ‘anxiety’ and ‘depression’ are hardly sexy topics of conversation, and when you’re promoting a new movie/your latest memoir/a line of perfume for tiny kittens, it’s not really the message you want to send to your potential customers.

But sometimes, our favourite Hollywood stars get very, very candid and when they do, it makes me really happy.

Of course, I’m not delighting in the fact that other people are suffering.

In a perfect world, no-one would struggle with crippling social anxiety. Or depression so deep it makes them never want to leave their bed.

When famous faces talk about their mental health, it makes the rest of us feel less alone.

But there is something to be said when our news feeds are flooded with stories about famous faces struggling just like us.

Sometimes, it's comforting to know that fame doesn't put people in a protective bubble where they go untouched by the issues that affect us 'average Janes'.

It's confirmation that if you're struggling with your mental health you are not alone, and that many, many people - Oscar winners and supermodels included - know exactly how you feel.

This week, I woke up to headlines that said Miranda Kerr had opened up about falling into a "deep depression" after her split from actor husband Orlando Bloom.

Miranda Kerr said she suffered from deression after her divorce. Image via Instagram.

"I never understood the depth of that feeling or the reality of that because I was naturally a very happy person," the Australian supermodel told Elle Canada.

Also this week, Ellen DeGeneres admitted she hit "rock bottom" after she came out as gay on the cover of Time magazine in 1997.

"I was the punch line of lots of jokes. I laughed at some, but I realised there’s somebody on the other side of them. It’s cruel," the talk show host told Out, appearing on the cover after being crowned their ‘Entertainer of the Year’.

Mia Freedman talks anxiety on Just Between Us:

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Adele spoke openly about how she struggled with postpartum depression after the birth of her son, an experience she says has made her "too scared" to have a second child.

This was me, when I read about Amanda Seyfried's reasoning for why she never wanted to come off the medication that helped her with her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder:

via GIPHY

"I don’t see the point of getting off of it," Amanda told Allure off her treatment.

"Whether it’s placebo or not, I don’t want to risk it. And what are you fighting against? Just the stigma of using a tool?"

These four famous women have one thing in common: they've brought a topic that's decidedly unglamorous out of the shadows and onto the covers of our magazines.

Celebrities make talking about mental health less taboo.

Millions of people around the world will read and see those interviews, and perhaps feel a little less alone when they realise the tightening in their chest, or that dark shadow that seems to follow them around is happening in other people's lives too.

There's certainly more that can be done, and more famous faces that can give raw and honest interviews about their mental health.

But there is no doubt the tides are changing and I'm happy that chats about mental health are becoming celebrity staples.

Celebrities are responsible for normalising so many things, like plastic surgery and side vag (yes, really), so why can't talking about our mental health be one of them?