Black Women In Hollywood Who Battled Depression

It’s no secret that NeNe Leakes and her husband Gregg had an incredibly trying year as he battled cancer. So it shouldn’t be surprising that it took a toll on the Real Housewife of Atlanta’s mental health. The 51-year-old recently told Hollywood Life that the responsibilities of taking care of her husband was overwhelming and dug her into a serious depression. “Being a caretaker and doing something like caring for someone with cancer for the first time in my life, then to have to be the breadwinner for everything, it’s a lot,” she said, adding, “The overseer of everything in our life, it was a lot of pressure and it really did feel like depression.” NeNe also said that she didn’t even know she was depressed until her doctor noticed her symptoms.

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“I don’t really know what depression is, but I was speaking to my OBGYN and I was telling her a lot about how I felt and she said, ‘I think that you’re going through a depression,’ and I didn’t really know what a depression felt like except for what anyone said,” she explained. She also admitted that she took the anti-depressants her doc prescribed her and they helped. “She gave me some medication and it really worked and it helped me out a lot,” she added. “I don’t think I really understood how serious that was for us and how much pressure I had on me.” Here’s the thing: NeNe isn’t alone being a Black woman struggling with depression. From Fantasia to Willow Smith to Kerry Washington, here are 14 stars who weren’t afraid to open up and share their personal journey with us. Read more about their bravery and healing below:

1. NeNe Leakes

As stated above, NeNe was overwhelmed with the fear of losing her husband to cancer, having to be his primary caretaker and the pressure of being the breadwinner. All of this caused depression, which she admits she is dealing with with the help of prescribed anti-depressants. Ain’t no shame in that!

2. Taraji P. Henson

Earlier this year, Taraji told Variety that she has been battling depression and anxiety, which she sees a therapist to help her address those issues. “You can talk to your friends, but you need a professional who can give you exercises … If I’m going to change for the better, I need honesty, and sometimes your friends and family don’t have it in them to be brutally honest.”

3. Willow Smith

The 17-year-old recently admitted that she used to cut herself during an episode of “Red Table Talk,” alongside her mother Jada and her grandmother Adrienne. Smith’s confession was a shock to her family, who had no idea that she resorted to self-harm to deal with the internal pressures of child stardom. “I honestly felt like I was experiencing so much emotional pain…one night, I was like ‘this is actually psychotic,’ and after that I just stopped. It’s been like five years,” she shared.

4. Kerry Washington

The “Scandal” star has been very open about her past struggles with anxiety, depression and an eating disorder. In an April 2015 interview with Glamour Washington said she relies on therapy as a form of self care. “My brain and my heart are really important to me. I don’t know why I wouldn’t seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth. I go to the dentist. So why wouldn’t I go to a shrink?”

5. Michelle Williams

Williams revealed that she fought depression and suicidal urges during and after her time with supergroup Destiny’s Child. “I was to that place where it got so dark and heavy, because sometimes you feel like, I’m the provider, I take care of people, I’m not supposed to be feeling this way. I wanted out.” Williams is now dedicated to normalizing the stigma’s surrounding mental health.

6. Keri Hilson

Hilson disclosed that her bouts with depression deeply impacted her music career. “Literally seven years of my life have been a battle with depression, and I can’t say that I’m all the way clear, but I’m in the clear,” Hilson said at a panel discussion on mental health in February 2018.

7. Kelly Rowland

In her 2013 song “Dirty Laundry” Rowland admitted to suffering depression due to a physical and emotionally abusive relationship alongside the breakup of Destiny’s Child. In her 2017 book “Oh Baby,” Rowland also shared that she experienced post-partum depression after the birth of her son Titan.

8. Mary J. Blige

Blige has always been an open book about her life through her gift of song. Early in her career Blige battled addiction to help her sort through her newfound fame. “I was resorting to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain,” she said in an interview with MAKERS. “People from the outside looking in would think I was great, but I was in hell.” Blige said she fought off her addiction by realizing her gift and the impact it had on her fans. “I took all this depression and oppression I was dealing with and just put it in my music. I made the choice, I chose life,” she said.

9. Alicia Keys

In 2007 Alicia Keys said she fought depression after the death of her grandmother, while keeping her pain a secret from her loved ones. “I was feeling so sad all the time, and I couldn’t shake it,” she says. “I started burying my feelings, and it got to a point where I couldn’t even tell my family or my friends, ‘I’m twisted,’ or ‘I’m exhausted,’ or ‘I’m so angry.’ … I became a master of putting up the wall so that I was unreadable.”

10. Halle Berry

Berry dealt with suicidal urges after her marriage to former MLB player David Justice dissolved. But, the award-winning actress was able to come out of her depression to realize her self-worth. “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,” she said.

11. Serena Williams

Though she’s one of the greatest athletes to ever live, Williams experienced depression after she discovered a blood clot in her lung in 2010. Williams also said she fought with post-partum depression after the birth of her daughter Alexis.

12. Fantasia

In 2010, Barrino attempted suicide by overdosing on aspirin and sleep pills. The singer later shared that she had been suffering from depression for years and let things build up. “I think I was just overloaded with everything, with carrying six years of so much.”

13. Audra McDonald

In 2014, the six-time Tony winner shared that she, too, suffered from depression and mental health issues while attending college at the prestigious Juilliard School in NYC. “They had a mental health facilitator there, a therapist there and they checked me into a mental health hospital where I was for a month and got me the help I needed.”

14. Jennifer Freeman

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Former “My Wife and Kids” actress Jennifer Freeman recently took to Instagram to share her own battle with depression over the years. “It is definitely a journey. It is not a destination for me because it is something I am working on every single day. I just really got to a point in my life where I was really depressed. I just hated myself, I hated my life, I felt so alone. I just didn’t understand why my outside didn’t match up with how I was feeling inside.”