what I find disturbing in our community the african-american community is that
we can talk about a fibroid we can talk about cancer breast cancer AIDS even but
we won't deal with the mental and that's an issue I struggle with depression and
anxiety I would have to say I realized it about two years ago I noticed the
mood swings like you know one day I be up and the next day I'd be down feeling
like I don't want to go out in public almost agoraphobic like too much to deal
with feeling really awkward in my skin feeling out of sorts you know and just
down like debbie downer like a dark cloud and then there will be days where
my brain wouldn't stop racing which would I would think of the most worst
scenarios in the world which would heighten my anxiety and you know people
were like you just need to meditate and yoga and things like that and I would do
that but my brain would still race for me there was no shame when I started to
recognize it it was like there had to get some help because I'm the I'm the
life of the party and when I go dark I can't talk I don't
want to leave the house and my friends started to notice me pulling back to my
father who also had his issues with mental health was really open about it
about his manic depression but you know as I think back no one else really
talked about it it was hush-hush or you know he just crazy or you know
things like that what my dad what he needed was a
culturally competent therapist and it's not even about the skin color or the
race it's about being culturally competent and the reason why we can't
find culturally competent therapists is because at home an african-american
community we don't talk about mental health you know it's a stigma
surrounding it and when you have no one to talk to what a person usually do is
they will try to self-medicate we're just not allowed to be vulnerable we
have to be strong all the time this is for year hundreds of damage for hundred
years trauma that we have not dealt with and
the way we deal with it is be strong put on a strong face nothing's wrong with
you you don't have mental health you're not gay don't you know you're not
allowed to be human that's a lie we hurt and we're suffering when you
think about the trauma the african-american community has been
through since we've been brought to this country we have not dealt with that and
then you get to these microaggressions that are happening right in front of our
faces every day on television women's sons are being taken from him for no
reason at all and through that we still have to be strong how fucking dare you
how dare you how dare you put that on me I felt pressure to be strong as a black
woman in Hollywood because I kept hearing that term everyone kept saying
be a strong black woman strong black woman then I realized that's a myth it
means that I'm some superhuman in some kind of way where nothing affects me and
that is so far from the truth sometimes I want to be strong sometimes
the weight is just too much you know and to put on that facade like you're strong
all the time is this exactly good it is a facade that's that's that's the wack
you have to be human and human means you're vulnerable and human measure your
layers and you know being in an industry where you know you're getting paid 52
cents on the dollar compared to a white male things like that weigh on your soul
you know because I'm an artist and I'm an artist to the bone so when I work I
give you all of me and to know that all of me is only worth 52 cents on the
dollar of what he's getting paid that hurts a lot of that stuff started
weighing on me and sort of like dimming my lights and I had to just get control
of it and you know what I started to do was started making me feel good about it
it's not keeping it in and talking about it you know because if you talk maybe
things will get fixed I felt such a relief when I finally said it
publicly like I suffer from this people just it was an outpour you know as out
poor people it was like they were like this and all of a sudden they felt free
to speak on it when I got back above water when I stopped suffocating myself
I was drowning and once I released my truth once I spoke my truth I started to
float back you know that's what it is it's luggage it's baggage and it will
weigh you down you better unpack those trunks and get that mess out of deal
with it it's okay we're human no one's perfect
they're the perfection is the perfect lie when my therapist said that my wings
sprouted the pressure of trying to be something perfect which doesn't exist
it's crazy let go of that myth when when I'm vulnerable I'm scared or I'm having
these non pleasant thoughts I let it run because if you if you muffle it it's
only gonna resurface again so you have to kind of let it run and play out like
a faucet just let it run until the water runs out and then once oh you pick
yourself back up because you know your mind will play tricks on you I talked to
myself and I think more people need to talk to themselves but cuz you work
things out and it's not you know people can call it crazy whatever I even catch
myself doing it in public and I have to stop but it's it's just a way to work
things out and yes I think it's okay it's okay I would have a full-on
conversation with myself in the mirror when you have issues and you have no one
to talk to and the walls are closing in the voices are getting too loud what I
noticed the people people will start to self-medicate because you want to feel
good right so then they turn to alcohol they turn to drugs and we're seeing this
with the youth a lot
I'm a celebrity and at this point everybody
kept asking me do you have a charity and then I really couldn't find anything
that I was passionate about and then I was like this is it you know what I mean
because this is something I'm really passionate about this is something that
is a necessity for me and so we have to break this cycle of keeping our mouths
closed so I called my best friend who also has a lifetime of suffering with
anxiety and that's when we decided to birth the Boris Lawrence Henson
foundation named after my father so I think he'd be really proud I felt such
an urgency to do something I felt like it was my mission to give back to these
children because they're having coping issues and so our our my foundation and
what we're trying to do is we're trying to get these babies while they're kids
so we infiltrate the school we get counselors in there who can see a child
dealing with a traumatic situation at home because these kids come to school
from trauma from traumatic situations at home and we expect them to learn and sit
down and focus I'm speaking up now because we are facing a national crisis
I want people to know that it is
okay to get seek help for mental health there is nothing wrong with it
you go to the dentist don't you you go get your yearly checkup got a check on
your mental