Lil Jon, Usher and More Black Celebs Who've Been Open About Their Mental Health Journeys

Trigger Warning: This articles mentions instances of suicidal ideation and sexual assault. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. You can also call the Suicide and Crisis Hotline by dialing 988.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and we at The Root believe it’s important to let our readers know that they aren’t alone in their mental health journeys! From folks like Usher and Lil Jon to Lenny Kravitz and Tarji P. Henson—even Black celebs who seemingly have it all aren’t immune from struggles with mental health. Thankfully though, they’ve become increasingly transparent about it over the years in an effort to normalize conversations about it and help themselves as well as others find different ways to coped.

Hopefully, by seeing the openness from those in the public eye, it’ll inspire the rest of us to have those important conversations with ourselves and those we love and care about the most in order to jumpstart true healing and restoration.

So, it’s in that spirit that we thought we’d look back at a handful of celebs who’ve been vulnerable enough to share about their journeys...

Speaking in a Q&A session at the Lil Jon’s Manifest Abundance Album Retreat presented by Natural Vitality on Wednesday, the rapper shared that the start of his mental health journey was prompted by his 2022 divorce from ex-wife Nicole Smith. This, along with the success of his first meditation album, in turn drove him to create his forthcoming second album, aptly titled “Manifest Abundance.” It’s set to release on Friday, May 10.

“A lot of the affirmations on the album are affirmations that I would say every single day,” he said before later adding: “Eventually I manifested a new life for myself and amazing things started to happen.”

“If you want to be happy, you want to see your life change: you have to have acceptance. If you have acceptance then you’ll have peace because there’s nothing you’re gonna worry about ever. And you’re going to trust God, you’re going to accept what God is doing, you have to accept what you have, what you don’t have, whatever cards you’re given—you accept those. You learn from it and you move on. Then, there’s no stress...when I learned acceptance I found inner peace,” he shared.

In addition to acceptance, Lil Jon also said that being outside and saying affirmations in the morning and throughout the day have helped him on his journey. His favorite affirmations? “I am happy. I am healthy. I am at peace.”

For Usher, he shared on Audacy’s “I’m Listening” podcast initiative that speaking to people who are professionally trained to help talk through your mental health journey and struggles is paramount.

“Being able to talk about any of the issues that we have is good. But who you choose to speak to, and whether they have the type of education and certification to be able to help you, is important,” he said. “The reality is sometimes when you’re speaking with a professional, they’re not there to tell you how to live, they’re there for you to hear yourself and then evaluate how to better assess what you’re thinking. So it’s important, you know, when left to your own thoughts, sometimes it might get so cloudy that you need to be able to have a hired professional to be able to help you process it.”

He also shared the things he does to keep his own mental state in a good place which is express gratitude to God and take time out to do personal meditations.

Back in March, Lenny Kravitz opened up about his mental health journey, explaining on Audacy’s “I’m Listening” podcast initiative how he takes steps back for his mental health and who he learned it from:

“There’s just breaks that need to happen where you need to have some recreation,” he said.

“You know, Prince taught me a really interesting thing. He used to like to play with words, and he said, ‘The word ‘recreation’ is re-creation,’ but the way we say the word, we don’t think of the words for what they are: ‘Re-creation.’ So, you got to step away, chill, and then it comes again.”

Speaking in a cover interview with the New York Times in May, comedian and actor Marlon Wayans revealed that he fell into a depression following the deaths of his parents. Those hard deaths also came on the heels of losing nearly 60 people close to him in a matter of three years.

“I miss my parents dearly, but I’m a different human with my parents gone than I was when they were here,” he explained. “Now I’m a man. I don’t have parents anymore, so I live differently. I understand the quality of life. I pray more, because when I pray I feel like I’m speaking to my parents and that they’re listening. I let them know what’s going on.”

Taraji P. Henson has been increasingly open about her mental health journey and dedication to seeing the stigma erased concerning it over the last several years. In 2018, she opened the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, in honor of her father who passed away in 2006 and suffered from addiction and other mental health struggles stemming from his time fighting in Vietnam. She also tackled the taboo topic in her popular Facebook Watch series, Peace of Mind with Taraji.

“When you know you’re not alone, especially when there’s a voice in that group that goes ‘hey, I understand. That sounds like what I’m going through,’—it dissipates the shame and the fear that you are alone in your struggle. And you’re not,” she said in an interview with The Root at the time.

In a new interview with VeryWellMind, she shared why she decided to be vocal about her mental health, explaining to the publication:

“Vulnerability is your strength, not a weakness. We have to break the cycle of suffering so that we can live healthy whole lives without being shackled to our trauma. There are free services out here, whether it’s therapy or yoga or African dance that can help you at least start your journey to healing. Joy is our birthright, and you deserve that.”

She later added: “I broke my silence to free someone else to share their story and ultimately get the support they need. It wasn’t easy, especially when you’re in the public space, but it was worth it.”

Following the revelatory interview with Oprah and her husband Prince Harry in March of 2021, the world got a glimpse into the mental health struggle’s Meghan Markle faced during her time in London while being inducted into the Royal Family.

As you may remember, Markle detailed the immense pressure from the Firm and unjust media targeting in that now famous interview and revealed that she contemplated suicide at one point which scared her so much—she felt she couldn’t be left alone. Prince Harry corroborated the story and made it abundantly clear that it was the cycle of “genetic pain and suffering” in the Royal Family that compelled them both to leave life London behind and start one anew here in the States.

The “Special” singer has been regularly open about her mental health, often times sharing her thoughts with her fans via social media. In 2019, she revealed she suffered from depression after releasing her hit song “Truth Hurts,” back in 2017 according to People.

“The day I released ‘Truth Hurts’ was probably one of the darkest days I’ve had ever in my career,” she explained. “I remember thinking, ‘If I quit music now, nobody would notice. This is my best song ever, and nobody cares.’ I was like, ‘Fuck it, I’m done.’ And a lot of people rallied; my producer, my publicist and my family, they were like, ‘Just keep going because this is the darkest before the dawn.’”

Later in June of 2019, she fell into another depressive state but later found strength and support from various industry peers and her fans.

Being emotionally honest can save your life,” she captioned in a post to Instagram at the time. “Reaching out may be hard but as soon as I did it, I was immediately covered in love. I used to think of sadness as a constant with fleeting moments of joy in between... but it’s a wave, joy, sadness, joy, sadness and my sadness can be as temporary as my joy. I went on live to have a discussion about triggers. My triggers are: rejection and inadequacy. But I love that I’m more emotionally honest lately. I love that I can use my sadness constructively in real time for gratitude.”

Hip-hop lovers everywhere rejoiced earlier this year when one of its GOATs, a.k.a. Kendrick Lamar dropped some new heat after a five-year-long hiatus, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. But perhaps what was most interesting about the long-awaited album was one of the subject matters broached, namely Lamar’s thoughts, feelings and experience with therapy and the stigma mental health still has in the Black community. Through songs like “Mother I Sober,” “United in Grief” and “Father Time,” to name a few, Lamar decided to shed light and open up to his loyal fans and followers about his mental health journey in a more artistic and transparent way than ever before.

Keeping on the hip-hop tip, we’d be remiss to not mention rapper Kid Cudi, who’s long been open about his mental health struggles seemingly since he first came on the scene.

During a fundraiser dinner in New York earlier this summer, Cudi opened up about his battles with anxiety, depression, and substance abuse according to Self. He explained how he started abusing after his music career started gaining more and more traction. It wouldn’t be until the age of 32 that he would enter rehab to get a grip on everything and implement certain boundaries to keep him from entering back into that dark place again such as: 1) pacing himself when it comes to releasing music and 2) monitoring how he engages with social media.

“I want to live for my daughter, for my family, for my friends, for my fans. I want to live, I want this for myself. So, I made the choice for the first time in my life to go get help for what I didn’t understand,” he said.

In the 2018 July/August issue of Essence Magazine, Janet Jackson divulged her mental health struggles, detailing feelings of despair and deep sadness in her 30s and 40s.

“In my forties: Like millions of women in the world, I still heard voices inside my head berating me, voices questioning my value,” Jackson said. “Happiness was elusive. A reunion with old friends might make me happy. A call from a colleague might make me happy. But because sometimes I saw my failed relationships as my fault, I easily fell into despair.”

She would later go on to share that despite those unfortunate feelings, becoming a mother would be the healing balm that she needed to get her through.

“When I kiss him. When I sing him softly to sleep. During those sacred times, happiness is everywhere. Happiness is in gratitude to God. Happiness is saying, ‘Thank you, God, for my life, my energy and my capacity to grow in love,’”she said.

In 2018, the world was surprised to find out that singing legend and icon Mariah Carey had long been battling Bipolar II disorder.

In an exclusive interview with People, Carey revealed she originally received the diagnosis back in 2001 but kept it close to her chest because she was in denial. That changed however when she realized the importance of getting help and how that could aid in her creative endeavors.

“It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that anymore. I sought and received treatment, I put positive people around me and I got back to doing what I love—writing songs and making music,” she said, later adding: “I’m hopeful we can get to a place where the stigma is lifted from people going through anything alone. It can be incredibly isolating. It does not have to define you and I refuse to allow it to define me or control me.”

Despite how big and masculine Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is, he’s not a man without his own low moments. One of those moments was when at age 18 he struggled with depression and a lack of emotional vulnerability.

“The first time I had experienced depression, I was 18 years old, and I had no idea what depression was,” he said per Men’s Health. “Back then, depression was also called ‘get off the couch and get your shit together and change what’s happening here.’”

He continued:

I was an only child, and I was always a better listener than I was a communicator in terms of sharing my feelings. And I feel like the most important thing, obviously, is communicating and realizing that asking for help when you’re down and you’re feeling wobbly or when you’re depressed is actually the most powerful thing you can do. Asking for help is not a weakness. As a matter of fact, asking for help is our superpower, and men, especially us, we fall into this trap of being really adverse to vulnerability, because we always want to be strong and feel like we can take on the world.

He concluded, “But the truth is, you have to, and hopefully over time, learn to embrace vulnerability and learn to embrace this idea that you can’t always solve everything. A lot of times in life, as you head down the road, you’re going to need help, and it’s all a part of life.”

If there’s one celeb who knows how to be beautifully transparent about life, love and everything in between, it’s Gabrielle Union. If not evidenced by her best-selling books We’re Going to Need More Wine and You Got Anything Stronger?, then allow her moving Instagram post detailing her years-long struggle with PTSD and anxiety to serve as further proof.

Posting a video of her and hubby D. Wade at the MET Gala earlier this year, Union shared how PTSD (which was triggered by a rape in her younger years) still manifests in her life and how others need to be aware and learn to empathize with those experiencing it.

“As a rape survivor, I have battled PTSD for 30 years. Living with anxiety and panic attacks all these years has never been easy,” she captioned in a post back in June. “There’s times the anxiety is so bad it shrinks my life. Leaving the house or making a left hand turn at an uncontrolled light can fill me with terror. Anxiety can turn my anticipation about a party or fun event I’ve been excited about attending (Met Ball) into pure agony.”

She continued:

When we tell y’all what we are experiencing, please believe us the 1st time we mention it,” Union continued in her post. “No, it’s not like being nervous and everyone experiences and deals with anxiety differently, and that’s OK. I don’t need you to try to ‘fix’ me. I share this as I hope everyone living with anxiety knows they aren’t alone or “being extra.” I see you, I FEEL you and there is so much love for you. Always. Love and light good people. Be good to each other out there 🖤.

I know, I know. But before you go rolling your eyes or brushing this at times controversial couple off, you should know that both Will and Jada have been increasingly open about their respective mental health journeys over the years.

In fact, last fall, the King Richard star shared that during the making of his six-part docuseries Best Shape of My Life, which was being filmed around the same time as he was penning his bestselling memoir Will, he was at such a low point in his life that he contemplated suicide.

“When I started this show, I thought I was getting into the best shape of my life physically, but mentally, I was somewhere else. I ended up discovering a whole lot of hidden things about myself,” Smith said per Billboard.

He later added, “What you’ve come to understand as Will Smith—the alien-annihilating MC, bigger-than-life movie star—is largely a construction. A carefully crafted and honed character designed to protect myself. To hide myself from the world.”

Likewise, his wife Jada also detailed instances growing up where she dealt with anxiety, “mental health breakdowns,” and even suicidal thoughts in her early 20s.

“I had gotten to L.A. and gotten a certain amount of success and realized that that wasn’t the answer…that that wasn’t what was going to make everything OK. Actually, it made things worse. And I became extremely suicidal and I had a complete emotional collapse,” she explained in a 2020 episode of Red Table Talk according to Essence.

Thankfully for the longstanding couple, they’ve both been able to work on their issues and continue to seek the resources necessary for true growth and healing.

Tennis champ Naomi Osaka hasn’t been shy to discuss her mental health journey seemingly ever since her decision to withdraw from the French Opem last summer.

However, the 25-year-old star is now feeling “more comfortable in her skin” after realizing that she has nothing to prove to anyone and after going to therapy to get a better handle on the anxiety and depression triggered by hecklers and naysayers at her games.

“She [the therpaist] kind of like told me strategies and stuff. I realize how helpful it is. I’m glad that I have people around me that told me to go in that direction. I was basically just remembering all the things that she told me to do, just to take deep breaths and reset myself when I need to,” she explained at a post match press conference following a first round win against Astra Sharma at the Miami Open earlier this year.

Much like Osaka, tennis GOAT Serena Williams is no stranger to the mental difficulties being a part of the sport can bring. However, even before she shocked the world with the announcement of her retirement, she said she’s implemented some boundaries that serve her well during moments of discomfort.

“Mental fitness for me is just really learn[ing] to shut down. I did this years ago before mental health was even a topic among everyone’s mind,” she shared during an interview with Selena Gomez via People. “It was more just like, all right, I’m shutting myself down today. Just subconsciously, it was something I’ve always done. So now that I know that it’s this important to put yourself first, especially mentally, I always have shut down moments. I have serious boundaries and I don’t let anyone cross those boundaries.”

She later added, “For me, it’s so important to make sure, every day, I have a period of, like... t’s so bad, because I really don’t do anything for me, I’m terrible at that! And I’ve said it time and time again–I’m working on it. But more or less, at least prioritizing what I need to do. And then when I’m turned off, I’m turned off.”

Yes, I know some would argue that Ye, a.k.a. Kanye West doesn’t belong on this list because although he’s open about the fact that he suffers from bipolar disorder—he regularly goes off his medication and gets into some very troubling things as a result of it. But it would be a bit foolish of me not to add him on here just as a simple warning and lowkey case study of what can go wrong when you choose not stay on track with things that have been proven to help you.

That’s not to say that those who struggle with bipolar, if left unchecked, will go on to spew anti-Black, white supremacist, anti-Semitic talking points. That’s not what I’m saying at all. What I am saying is that mania or manic episodes are real and when and how they choose to manifest themselves vary from person to person. And if you can prevent yourself and others from going through that, wouldn’t you want to? Granted Ye is on a whole nother playing field all by himself (which is a conversation for another day) but for anyone else dealing with bipolar disorder, please know that help is available and you are loved, no matter what.