For people who have dealt with depression or other mood disorders, the experience can be both deeply personal and lonely. You feel hopeless and like you have no idea how things could possibly turn around for the better. The truth is that many people go through similar things with depression and the more open we all are about the struggles, the less confusion and stigma there is. These 14 celebs have all dealt with depression and lived to tell the tale, which is hopelessly inspiring for anyone who can relate in any way.
14 Courteney Cox
The Friends star went through a period of depression after her daughter had been in the world for six months. She felt extremely vulnerable and experienced suicidal urges. She ended up receiving treatment in the form of hormone progesterone.
13 Hayden Panettiere
Hayden is another celeb who has been open about the postpartum depression that she faced after giving birth to her daughter Kaya. She says she thinks it's pretty common and that we should be discussing it on a regular basis.
12 Kendra Wilkinson
Reality star Kendra Wilkinson suffered from depression after having her first child at 24, which even threatened her marriage. She went to therapy so it wouldn't get as bad as it had been in her teen years, when she attempted suicide twice. Of the dark time she has said, "I felt like I had to be a different person. I was doing whatever I could for the baby, but I lost myself and it was really frustrating." She felt like she was "in a black hole." She would even go into a closet and sob and yell.
11 Jon Hamm
The Mad Men star was only 20 when his father died, and he had a pretty rough time. He ended up experiencing chronic depression following the incident which he has moved past. He has said, "You can change your brain chemistry enough to think: 'I want to get up in the morning; I don't want to sleep until four in the afternoon."
10 Brooke Shields
The Lipstick Jungle star has been so open about the extreme postpartum that she experienced after the birth of her daughter that she wrote a memoir back in 2005, Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. She felt very suicidal and chose to take medication as part of her recovery.
9 Paulina Porizkova
In 2007, the model was voted off Dancing With the Stars and struggled with anxiety attacks. She was very vocal about her experience and her subsequent treatment, which she wrote about openly. Paulina was treated with an anti-depressant but ultimately felt like it was dulling her personality as well as the pain. She eventually stopped taking the drugs and wrote that she was "starting to wonder whether anti-depressants can often be the emotional equivalent of plastic surgery."
8 Catherine Zeta-Jones
The actress has been super vocal about the fact that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She has type I which causes severe depression as opposed to type II which causes both manic highs as well as depression. She has said she hopes others will be inspired by her story and realize that, yes, you can control your disease if you get the help that you need.
7 Tipper Gore
The ex-wife of Al Gore is all too familiar with the depths of depression. Years ago, her son was in a near fatal car accident and she had a hard time recovering emotionally. She took medication for a long time to aid her recovery. She has said that you can't rely on prayer or telling yourself to get over it -- you absolutely need to seek help.
6 Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd has revealed that as a sixth grader she contemplated suicide, and at one point got treatment for depression and a compulsion to clean. She was actually visiting her sister in a treatment center for food addiction where they approached her about some of her own issues. She was treated in rehab for depression for 42 days.
5 Winona Ryder
When Winona Ryder chose to star in and produce Girl, Interrupted, she was picking a project that hit pretty close to home. She's shared that after she and Johnny Depp went their separate ways, she was extremely depressed and turned to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain. That didn't work, of course. It was when she fell asleep with a cigarette in her mouth and lit herself on fire that she knew it was time to get help. She briefly checked into a mental institution for treatment.
4 Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow suffered from postpartum after the birth of her second child but at first she didn't even realize it. In 2011, she explained how she didn't feel quite right but didn't know there could be an explanation: "I felt like a zombie. I couldn't access my emotions. I thought postpartum depression meant you were sobbing every single day and incapable of looking after a child. But there are different shades and depths of it."
3 Princess Diana
The late princess suffered from depression, postpartum depression, and an eating disorder. She supposedly didn't get a lot of support from the family she married into and felt superior as a member of the royal court. She was also pretty lonely. When Kate Middleton was preparing to marry Diana's son William in 2011, she got counseling as a preventative measure to enter the royal family with as much emotional stability as possible.
2 Owen Wilson
In 2007, reports surfaced that the seemingly easy going Owen Wilson had attempted suicide. Sources close to the actor admitted that he had "demons" and was on drugs. Some speculated that his breakup with Kate Hudson was a factor as he said he wanted to get married and have a family by the age of 3o which didn't happen. Luckily, he was treated and surrounded himself with supportive family and friends during his recovery.
1 Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato was first diagnosed as bipolar when she was treated in rehab for eating disorders and cutting. Today, she is alcohol free and follows a healthy lifestyle including eating well and regular exercise to keep her mood stable. She has said it's not " that one minute you're sad, one minute you're happy." Demi continues to be vocal about her experiences to reduce the stigma around mood disorders and seeking treatment.
sources: Usmagazine.com, Refinery29.com People.com, Webmd.com
