Celebrities Who Deal With Anxiety Disorders

To the average person watching movies or listening to music at home, it probably seems as though celebrities lead perfect lives. They have fame, adoration, money — all of the things that most people tend to associate with happiness. However, when the lights fade and the cameras stop clicking, many celebrities are still left to confront their own personal demons. Being famous is not a free pass from anxiety, as the Anxiety & Depression Association of America reports that nearly seven million adults in the U.S. suffer from generalized anxiety disorder.

Additionally, the pressures of fame and the associated public scrutiny can also lead to issues around anxiety. The Psychological Care Institute notes that such factors as public attention, the loss of privacy, and an inability to separate one's public and private personas can lead to a host of mental health issues. In addition, it can become a catalyst for substance misuse issues and addiction, which can often have fatal results. Here are a few well-known figures who have revealed that life in the limelight is not always what it's cracked up to be.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

The acclaimed British singer and songwriter has been very open about her struggles with anxiety. In a 2021 interview with Vogue, Adele shared going through what she referred to as a "Year of Anxiety," which began when she had to cancel two Wembley Stadium shows in the summer of 2017. She managed to combat her anxiety through sound baths, meditation, and working out. "I realized that when I was working out, I didn't have any anxiety," she told the interviewer. "It was never about losing weight. I thought, if I can make my body physically strong, and I can feel that and see that, then maybe one day I can make my emotions and my mind physically strong."

Speaking with Rolling Stone, Adele noted that the end of her marriage left her feeling depressed and anxious. When the press release went out revealing the split with her husband, the singer told the magazine that she retreated to her bed and binge-watched "The Sopranos" for several days. In addition to exercise, Adele also said that changing her diet helped mitigate her anxiety and depression symptoms. She learned, for example, that she had a sensitivity to gluten, a side effect of which can be feelings of depression. Removing gluten from her diet, Adele found, helped keep her anxiety and depression in check. 

Best known for playing the sarcastic, wisecracking superhero Deadpool onscreen, Ryan Reynolds's offscreen life has, at times, been less humorous. Speaking with PageSix, the actor candidly admitted that his mental health has not always been great and that he has had a tendency to spin out of control. During those times, Reynolds says that he tries to find time to meditate and regroup.

In an interview with Spyscape, the "Free Guy" star noted that he has dealt with anxiety for much of his life, partially as a result of growing up in a challenging environment with parents who didn't always model behaviors. Today, he tries to use mindfulness and the Headspace app to help him manage anxiety and keep himself grounded. He has also said that he sometimes slips into a different character while giving interviews as a protective method. However, the most important thing Reynolds feels he can do is to raise awareness and help others out there who may be struggling. "We don't talk enough about mental health," he said, "and don't do enough to de-stigmatize talking about it."

The actress and singer, who has recently risen to acclaim as the co-star of the hit TV series "Only Murders in the Building," became so overwhelmed with depression and anxiety that she canceled a tour in 2016 to check into a treatment facility. Gomez revealed to Vogue that she would have panic attacks right before or right after performing and finally decided to step away, taking 90 days to indulge in individual and group therapy. Even after checking out, Gomez says that she continues going to therapy regularly. She has also become a believer in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which focuses on using cognitive tools to regulate behaviors and emotions.

In recent years, Gomez has tried to use her celebrity status as a means of raising awareness about mental health struggles and released a documentary, My Mind & Me, chronicling her own journey (via Vanity Fair). She also continues working on her mental health, performing a grounding exercise to stay focused during times of anxiety. "I remind myself that I'm okay," she said. I ground myself for a moment. 'Where am I? I'm sitting down in the office. Everybody that I love is out there. There's food. I can get something to eat. I can take a nap here before I leave.' I put myself into the present."

The two-time Oscar winner has said that she was a child when she first began experiencing panic attacks (via FHE Health). She had feelings that the house was on fire and that she felt as though she was going to die. Although anxiety has continued to be a problem for Stone, the actress says that she has been able to transfer some of her emotions into her characters, which has helped many of her performances over the years.

Through therapy, Stone learned to manage her anxiety and even wrote a small book while in therapy called "I Am Bigger Than My Anxiety" (via Ladders). "I drew a little green monster on my shoulder that speaks to me in my ear and tells me all these things that aren't true," she recalled. "And every time I listen to it, it grows bigger. If I listen to it enough, it crushes me. But if I turn my head and keep doing what I'm doing — let it speak to me, but don't give it the credit it needs — then it shrinks down and fades away."

The "Wonder" singer was forced to cancel his 2022 world tour due to anxiety and feeling the pressures of fame (via ET Online). He took to social media to share how singing along with a harmonium and not worrying about "right" and "wrong" notes helped calm his fear and manage his anxiety. This process, he recalled, allowed him to be more accepting of life's highs and lows and take things more as they come as opposed to always trying to change his circumstances.

Speaking on the Dan Wootton Interview Podcast, as quoted by The Sun, Mendes said that he has used therapy to help deal with his anxiety. This includes seeing a therapist, as well as taking time for human connection. "Therapy is what works for you . . . climbing a mountain," he said. "Therapy is listening to music and running on the treadmill, therapy is going to dinner with your friends — it's something that distracts you, that helps you heal and so it just depends on what you think therapy is." 

In an interview with the French magazine Madame Figaro (via E! Online), the actress, who rose to fame in the "Hunger Games" film series, talked about her childhood battles with anxiety. "When my mother told me about my childhood, she always told me there was like a light in me, a spark that inspired me constantly," she said. When I entered school, the light went out. We never knew what it was, a kind of social anxiety," she reveals. "I went to see a shrink. Nothing worked."

She has also said that the pressures of fame and worrying about the public's opinion of her have had a detrimental effect on her health (via Stylist). And, as a result, it has often left her feeling anxious and unsure of what to say or even when to speak. "I'm so scared to say anything now," she said. "I can see every negative way that people can take it, and I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. "Oh, she's so conceited now. Oh, she's so jaded now.'" However, she has managed to deal with her struggles by developing a separate public persona that allows her to retain her own private identity. 

Colbert, who has entertained millions on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," admitted that he suffered a nervous breakdown shortly after his 1993 marriage (via Today). While he was able to quiet his anxiety with medication, he admitted that it was not enough to totally remove it. However, he realized that he did not feel anxious while performing, and threw himself fully into the creative process.

Speaking with comedian John Mullaney on his show, Colbert admitted that he has gotten to a place now where he no longer needs appreciation or validation from the audience in order to feel OK about himself (via My Meadow Report). "I have gotten to a place where I don't want a lot from the audience," he said. "Other than to make them laugh. And to make a connection that my internal anxieties, as I express them externally to the joke, when it makes them laugh, I have the sense of camaraderie and community that I'm not crazy to feel this way, because they wouldn't laugh unless they recognized it in somebody else." 

In an interview with Billboard, Lady Gaga candidly admitted to suffering from depression and anxiety throughout her entire life. Her struggles inspired the "Poker Face" singer to create the Born This Way Foundation, a nonprofit that is designed to help teens who battle similar mental health issues. "This foundation was born from the years I spent watching my fans grow up," Gaga said. "Many of them were really young: 11- to 17-year-olds in very tumultuous times. They would tell me their stories — and many of them were very dark. 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."

The singer, whose real name is Stephanie Germanotta, has also admitted that the Lady Gaga persona was created in part to help deal with her issues with depression (via Men's Group). "This is how I overcame my depression, by creating somebody that I felt was stronger than me. But...nothing was able to fix how I was genetically made. I was born this way. No matter how much success you have, no matter how many opportunities, fame, fortune — no matter how many people accept you, to your face, the person that really needs to accept you is you."

Kristen Bell has said that she began feeling symptoms of depression in college (via FHE Health). Despite attending a prestigious university in New York City and experiencing some early success in acting, the "Veronica Mars" star still felt inexplicably sad. While she eventually sought help for it, she has also said that she wishes she could speak to her younger self and tell her to seek help as soon as she began experiencing symptoms.

Because of this revelation, Bell wrote in Time, she has decided not to stay silent about her mental health battles and to use her platform as a means to raise awareness and hopefully inspire other people to confront their own issues. When you try to keep things hidden, they fester and ultimately end up revealing themselves in a far more destructive way than if you approach them with honesty," she said. "I didn't speak publicly about my struggles with mental health for the first 15 years of my career. But now I'm at a point where I don't believe anything should be taboo."

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.