Why We Crave Mental Illness in Celebrities

By Jordan Brown - Mental Health Writer, Poet, and Advocate • Issue #209 • View online

You may not be following the Kanye West news, and I don’t blame you if you aren’t.

The media has a way of forcing shocking information into our personal bubbles in a way that is incredibly off-putting.

But there’s something else that’s incredibly off-putting.

It’s the way media outlets–and social media outlets that act as news sources–latch on to celebrity misfortune and amplify it.

I get it. Kanye (Now known as Ye, apparently?) is a polarizing person. But he also happens to live with bipolar disorder. And this poses a challenge for reporting on him.

Read on to learn about what I think we get very, very wrong about celebrity mental illness–and what I think we can do much, much better.

Celebrity Mental Illness in the Media

First, let’s try to agree on something.

Media outlets can be tremendous sources of information in a hyper-connected world, but they can also be extremely slanted and misleading. When the goal is to increase viewership and ratings, incentives become misaligned, and the viewers suffer.

Kanye West is running for President of the United States.

You may have seen that headline. It stirs up emotions in people. It makes for a snappy, attention-grabbing title. But what’s beneath the surface is that Mr. West lives with bipolar disorder. He’s made reference to it before, and he’s even mentioned it on an album cover.

Instead of providing objective reporting on the situation and using outrageous behavior as a teaching opportunity, media outlets–and the people they inspire–focus on Kanye’s extreme, ridiculous behaviors. This makes for a great story, but it doesn’t help the world understand the mental health spectrum that we’re all on.

Why do we love celebrity mental illness drama? And why do we think it’s OK when a celebrity breakdown like Kanye’s–or Britney Spears’, or Amanda Bynes’, or an addiction issue like Ben Affleck’s or Robert Downey Jr.’s–gets blown out of proportion and exposed in a glaringly dramatic light?

I think we do this because we like the exposure. We all know what it’s like to feel unsteady–so unsteady that we teeter on the verge of breakdown. So we place our feelings at a safe distance. We latch on to the misfortune of celebrities because they are, to put it bluntly, celebrities, and we think they deserve the good and the bad that they get.

The problem with this is that no one deserves to be called out, teased, or taunted for mental health issues. This only makes mental health stigma worse.

Celebrity mental illness then becomes a “safe” way to talk about mental illness in general. We think we’re making progress when we discuss an “exotic” mental illness like bipolar disorder at all, but we’re doing the opposite. We’re blowing up an image so large and slamming it into view that it becomes distorted–and we can’t see the forest for the trees at that point. We can’t see the system underpinning the disorder.

What Celebrity Mental Illness Could Be

Looking toward a different conversation about celebrity mental illness.

As I alluded to above, celebrity mental illness could be a teaching opportunity. We heap praise and support on celebrities when they deal with catastrophic physical illness, but this is not so for mental health issues.

This doesn’t just apply to celebrities. It explains why cancer is a “casserole illness” but mental health issues don’t even usually conjure up a card or a public gesture of support.

If we’re being honest, mental illness can be terrifying. It’s alarming to see a woman yelling at the ghosts that surround her or a man punching into the air at demons unseen. But those are symptoms. And what we see as scary is probably 20 times more alarming for the person that is living with it and grappling with it every day. It’s the case for any person, client, or patient I’ve gotten to know. And we might learn that reality if we asked celebrities how they’re feeling, if we invited them to share their experiences.

Because that’s what it comes down to: an invitation. No one person can be forced to discuss their mental health issues in a public way, but the thing about mental health issue is that it’s social as much as mental and physical.

We change the climate and the public appetite for considering shocking mental health symptoms when we come together and offer support instead of judgment, when we don’t buy into the shocking media headlines and, instead, create our own personal headlines of what we will and will not tolerate.

We obsess over celebrity mental illness because it’s easier to do that then to consider that we often question the mental health issues within ourselves. Celebrities are proxies for our own feelings. Because they are rich and famous, we think that they can take on our own overwhelming emotions. They can’t. They’re human like us.

And when we shift the frame and the public conversation from one of judgment, sensationalism and laughter to one of empathy, hope, and support, we start to tell a different a story. A story that we’re all in this together–and that mental health issues, as devastating as they can be, bind us together more than they tear us apart.

I feel like a took a risk writing this, but my heart told me I should. I hope you gained a new perspective. As always, reach out if you have comments or concerns.

Jordan

P.S. We all struggle. I wrote my first book, In Search of Happiness, to heal myself as well as offer a soothing solution for others who are struggling. The ebook is .99 on Amazon for a few more days.

Did you enjoy this issue?

Become a member for $10 per month

Don’t miss out on the other issues by Jordan Brown - Mental Health Writer, Poet, and Advocate

Become a member

By Jordan Brown - Mental Health Writer, Poet, and Advocate

The Mental Health Update is an inspirational email newsletter containing authentic mental health articles that make mental health issues like depression, anxiety, OCD meaningful AND accessible.

This is different from typical mental health newsletters.

It's not just an Anxiety Email Newsletter or a Depression Email Newsletter - It's timeless mental health wisdom and inspiration to start your day in a thoughtful, uplifting way.

It's like a caring friend that just wants you to feel better.

Mental health awareness articles don't need to be all doom and gloom and filled with jargon.

With The Mental Health Update email newsletter, you'll get practical tips and new ways to view the world.

We discuss topics like anxiety, depression, OCD, the mental health to mental illness spectrum, social and communication skills, and much more.

You deserve to get helpful mental health information that you can actually apply to your life.

This is what one subscriber had to say:

"If you haven't yet subscribed to Jordan's daily newsletter, you absolutely should. It's chock full of good stuff to read and will help make your day better. Not unlike a daily vitamin for your mental health and soul..." - JR

Tweet

Why We Crave Mental Illness in Celebrities

Older messages

It Won't Get Better Unless You Do This

Do you have "checking behaviors" when anxious or stressed?

A Surprising Approach to Your Bad Feelings

A Rant About Mental Health Stigma

This Short Phrase Describes Everything You Do

You Might Also Like

Christmas Buildings

"My Dead Relatives" by Myrna Nieves

This Best-Selling Skirt On Amazon Is $35 & Looks So Expensive On

Happy Holidays!

The Best Thing: December 24, 2024

Kim Kardashian's Holiday Blowout Looks Like Pamela Anderson's '90s Hair

Get a 'CLUE' Report If Your Insurance Rates Seem Too High

An Egg And A Shell

Freshly brewed microplastics

"sueño convulso (seizure dream)" by Urayoán Noel