Celebrity and Mental Health

Selena Gomez appears (for the first time) on this month’s cover of Vogue. The accompanying article is a profile on Selena where she discusses celebrity, social media and mental health. Last summer, she cancelled her tour and entered into a facility in order to seek treatment for anxiety and depression. She talks about this in the interview, and also discusses how helpful DBT therapy has been for her. Being the most followed person on Instagram put a lot of pressure on Selena, who felt the need to constantly update and check her account. I think we can all relate to this to some degree, since many in some form seek validation through social media engagement. However, what I found most interesting about this article is the larger discussion it brings up about celebrities and mental health. I think of Britney Spears public breakdown where the paparazzi flocked around her to watch America’s sweetheart fall apart. The public took part in this too. There seems to be a lack of empathy for celebrities since they are extremely privileged and have access to all sorts of treatment. Dyer says celebrities embody cultural contradictions, and I think in many ways there are contradictions in how we talk about mental health compared to the treatment offered. Stigmas surrounding mental health keep those even with the largest platforms and voices in the world to stay silent and suffer. Britney Spears is another example of the American Dream turned to nightmare that has plagued so many celebrities either through public breakdowns or suicide: Brittany Murphy, Anna Nicole Smith, Amanda Bynes, Marilyn Monroe and many more. It seems like Selena is getting more support and empathy through this process than any of these other women did, which might indicate on a societal level how we are shifting our attention to mental health and attempting to get rid of the stigmas around it. I think there is something about celebrity that makes it very hard to be a mentally healthy person, from constantly being followed to feeling very isolated to having to perform for most aspects of your life. The Selena Gomez article made me think about how many among us are suffering silently, which becomes even more shocking when it is someone who supposedly has it all like Selena Gomez. At its core, this represents misconceptions in how people view the causes of mental illness. Saying Selena Gomez has nothing to be depressed about highlights how people think the causes of depression are lack of money or support networks or some other thing that celebrities have. Of course, mental health disorders can affect anyone and are very complex in their origins and treatment. I remember reading a Winona Ryder interview that perfectly summarizes this concept: