Taraji Henson Talks Mental Health In Variety Magazine

Taraji Henson Gets Real About Mental Health In Variety Magazine’s New Issue

Ebun
April 3, 2019
Celebrity, Cover
Taraji Henson Gets Real About Mental Health In Variety Magazine’s New Issue, Taraji P Henson Variety Magazine Interview
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Taraji P. Henson is getting candid about mental health in Variety‘s Power of Women New York issue, released Tuesday, along with Bette Midler, Gigi Hadid, Kacey Musgraves and Christiane Amanpour. In her cover story, Henson opens up about her struggle with anxiety and depression, sharing that she regularly sees a therapist to help her through it.

“[Fame] was fun at first, but the older I get, the more private I want to be,” Henson tells Variety. “I think there’s a misconception with people in the limelight that we have it all together, and because we have money now and are living out our dreams, everything is fine. That’s not the case. When they yell ‘Cut’ and ‘That’s a wrap,’ I go home to very serious problems. I’m still a real human.”

She says, “We’re walking around broken, wounded and hurt, and we don’t think it’s OK to talk about it. We don’t talk about it at home. It’s shunned. It’s something that makes you look weak. We’re told to pray it away. We’re told to pray it away. Everyone was always asking me, ‘Do you have a charity?’ Well, dammit, this is going to be my calling, because I’m sick of this. People are killing themselves. People are numbing out on drugs. Not everything is fixed with a pill.”

In order to get a grip on her depression, Taraji P. Henson stepped back from social media and started regularly seeing a therapist: “I suffer from depression. My anxiety is kicking up, even more, every day, and I’ve never really dealt with anxiety like that. It’s something new.”