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Mental health advocates: Demi Lovato, Lena Dunham, more speak out to break stigmas

AM New York - 2/8/2017

Feb. 08--You're not alone: That's the message these celebrities hope to spread by speaking out about mental illnesses.

Lena Dunham, Demi Lovato and Emma Watson and other celebrities are aiming to help break mental health stigmas. Whether they've revealed firsthand experiences or discussed the need for healthcare improvements in the nation, they've become inspirations to those battling their own demons.

Read what these stars have said about dealing with anxiety, depression and other issues.

Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato is an ultimate mental health advocate. She's been open about her struggles with eating and bipolar disorders since checking out of rehab in 2011. Aside from being open about her journey through her music (see "Skyscraper"), Lovato let the world watch her recovery in the 2012 MTV documentary "Stay Strong."

She spoke most recently at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July about the nation's lack of resources for mental health treatment.

"We can do better. Every one of us can make a difference by getting educated on this epidemic and its frightening statistics and by breaking the stigma," she said.

Cara Delevingne

What was Cara Delevingne's life like before her successful modeling career took off? The actress/model shocked her fans when she opened up about her struggle with depression at the age of 15, during an interview with Rupert Everett in 2015.

"I got to the point where I went a bit mad. I was completely suicidal ... I thought that I was completely alone, but I also realized how lucky I was," she said during the Women in the World panel.

Lena Dunham

Similar to her "Girls" character Hannah Horvath, Lena Dunham has been open about her struggles with anxiety. In January, she took to Instagram to explain that women on psychiatric medication are not "out-of-control."

"Most women on meds are women who have been brave enough to help themselves," she wrote. "Meds don't make me a hollowed out version of my former self or a messy bar patron with a bad bleach job. They allowed me to finally meet myself."

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga was inspired by her fans when she established the Born This Way Foundation, which aims to empower youth, the singer told Billboard. While the organization is not solely mental health-focused, Gaga said she wanted to inspire those who were struggling.

"They would tell me their stories -- and many of them were very dark," she said. "As I began to care for them and to see myself in them, I felt I had to do something that would remind kids they're not alone. When they feel isolated, that's when it leads to suicide."

Emma Watson

After breaking free from the role of Hermione Granger that defined her childhood, Emma Watson took on a new one: Feminism and gender equality advocate. While the actress often speaks of women's rights, she addressed the issues that men suffering from mental disorders also face during her 2014 HeForShe campaign speech.

"I've seen young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it would make them less of a man ... Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong ... I want men to take up this mantle ... reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned," Watson said.

Paris Jackson

Paris Jackson's depression and drug use led to her widely publicized suicide attempt at 15, when she overdosed on 20 Motrin and cut herself with a kitchen knife. In a 2017 Rolling Stone interview, she says that had been the latest try of "multiple times . . . It was just once that it became public."

Justin Bieber

Being at the center of pop fame can be lonely, so Justin Bieber says. The singer told NME Magazine in November 2015 that the intense attention he receives from the media and public made him depressed.

"[I feel depressed] all the time. And I feel isolated. You're in your hotel room and there are fans all around, paparazzi following you everywhere, and it gets intense. When you can't go anywhere or do anything alone you get depressed," Bieber said. He also revealed he feared he would follow a similar path as the late Amy Winehouse by allowing the media attention to affect his mental well-being.

Amanda Seyfried

Continuing to help dispel the stigma about mental illness, actress Amanda Seyfried has expanded on comments she made in 2015 about the efficacy of therapy, speaking more in-depth about her obsessive compulsive disorder.

"I'm on Lexapro," Seyfried said in a 2016 issue of Allure, referencing a brand name of escitalopram, a common medication used to treat conditions including OCD, "and I'll never get off of it. I've been on it since I was 19, so 11 years. I'm on the lowest dose. I don't see the point of getting off of it. Whether it's placebo or not, I don't want to risk it."

Carrie Fisher

The late Carrie Fisher had spoken candidly about her depression and bipolarity in interviews, including one with Oprah Winfrey in 2011 during which she said she had regular electroconvulsive treatment to "blow apart the cement" in her brain, as well as in her 2008 memoir, "Wishful Drinking." The actress, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her 20s, went on to use her fame as a platform to raise awareness of mental illness. She and her mother, the late Debbie Reynolds, were recognized for their commitment to various charities, including the mental-health organization Reynolds founded, the Thalians. Fisher's ashes were put into a porcelain urn in the shape of an outsized anti-depressant.

Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez took a step back from touring in August, citing anxiety, panic attacks and depression. In a statement to Us Weekly, she wrote that her mental health had been impacted by her lupus diagnosis.

"I know I am not alone by sharing this. I hope others will be encouraged to address their own issues," she wrote.

Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds says the tumultuous, more than decade-long effort to make "Deadpool," which went on to earn the biggest global box-office of any R-rated film, left him suffering panic attacks.

"I felt like I was on some schooner in the middle of a white squall the whole time. It just never stopped," the actor said in the December 2016 issue of GQ. "When it finally ended, I had a little bit of a nervous breakdown. I literally had the shakes. I went to go see a doctor because I felt like I was suffering from a neurological problem or something. And every doctor I saw said, 'You have anxiety.' "

Pete Wentz

Fall Out Boy frontman Pete Wentz admitted he struggled with his mental health during his 20s in an interview in 2015. When fans were wondering what broke up Wentz and former wife Ashlee Simpson, the singer sat down with Howard Stern to reveal he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Wentz also experienced anxiety and depression before the band's success in the early 2000s, he said in a video he recorded with mental health aid foundation Half of Us.

"At the end of the day you just need to be able to feel safe in your own skin," he said. "People need to find their own kind of balances and find their own peace."

Hayden Panettiere

"Nashville" star Hayden Panettiere opened up about her struggles with postpartum depression in the hopes that doing so would encourage other new moms to do the same.

"It's something that needs to be talked about. Women need to know that they're not alone, and that it does heal," she said on "Live! With Kelly and Michael" in September 2015.

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling, the magical mind behind "Harry Potter," considered suicide while struggling with depression in her 20s, Fox News reported in 2008. Some of her fans even believe the book's Dementors are a metaphor for a looming depression. Rowling has been extremely responsive to her fans on Twitter when they reach out for advice.

"The world is full of wonderful things you haven't seen yet. Don't ever give up on the chance of seeing them," Rowling wrote to a fan in 2015 who tweeted he wanted to "finally give up."

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