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Tag: Jada Pinkett Smith

  • Kid Cudi Details Why He Hid His Mental Health Struggles

    Kid Cudi Details Why He Hid His Mental Health Struggles

    Kid Cudi opened up about his mental health struggles on a recent episode of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook series, Red Table Talk.

    During a preview of Jada Pinkett Smith’s interview series Red Table Talk, Kid Cudi admitted to being “ashamed” to discuss his struggles with mental health. Born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in Cleveland, Ohio, the “Day ‘n’ Nite” rapper argued that there is a persistent, dangerous stigma around mental health in the black community. 

    Cudi added, that stigma keeps many people from getting the help they need. “I was really good at keeping my troubles hidden … even from my friends,” Cudi told the Facebook show’s hosts Smith, Adrienne Banfield-Jones and Willow Smith. “I really was good with that. And it’s scary because you hear people say, ‘I had no clue.’ I really went out of my way to keep what I was going through hidden because I was ashamed.” 

    Jada Pinkett Smith echoed Cudi by revealing her own struggles with mental health. “I was severely depressed, severely, and that was something that I battled with for years. Waking up in the morning was like the worst part of the day. And it would take me hours [to adjust]. By the time the evening time came, I was at least like: ‘Okay, I’m good.’ But then you go to sleep again and you gotta restart.” 

    Over the last couple of years, Cudi has been open about his mental health struggles. In October 2016, Cudi checked into a rehab facility for “depression and suicidal urges.” The day after he started treatment, he wrote an open letter that detailed his issues. 

    “I am not at peace,” he said. “I haven’t been since you’ve known me. If I didn’t come here, I would’ve done something to myself. I simply am a damaged human swimming in a pool of emotions every day of my life. There’s a raging violent storm inside of my heart at all times. Idk what peace feels like. Idk how to relax. My anxiety and depression have ruled my life for as long as I can remember and I never leave the house because of it. I can’t make new friends because of it. I don’t trust anyone because of it and I’m tired of being held back in my life. I deserve to have peace.”

    According to data collected by the National Institute of Mental Health, over 6.8 million black Americans had a “diagnosable mental illness” in 2018. Similarly, writer Hafeez Baoku wrote in a blog post for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) that the black community’s stance on mental health needs to evolve. 

    “If we are unable to remove the negative stigma surrounding mental health in the black community, we are willingly allowing another generation to grow up without access to counseling and mental health improvement resources that can help them live a happy, healthy life,” Baoku said. “You are not alone in your pain and you are not ‘weak’ or ‘less than’ because you are hurting. It’s time we reach out and ask for or offer help — because that’s what it takes to achieve the true healing we need.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Jada Pinkett Smith Gets Candid About Father's Addiction Struggles

    Jada Pinkett Smith Gets Candid About Father's Addiction Struggles

    “Once he did get sober, he was really a gentle soul. Now that I’m older, I have so much more compassion in knowing what he had gone through,” said Jada Pinkett Smith about her late father.

    Actress Jada Pinkett Smith opened up last week with tough memories about her father and his struggle with addiction before his 2010 death from a drug overdose, according to USA Today.

    Joined by her mother, daughter and half-brother Caleeb, Pinkett Smith delved into the “shared source of pain” during her Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk, which drew more than 5 million views in less than a week. 

    “He told me at 7, ‘I can’t be your father. I’m a criminal, I’m an addict and that’s just what it is,’” the 47-year-old Matrix actress said. Growing up, she said, Robsol Pinkett Jr.’s addiction was a source of resentment for the rest of the family.

    “We had that feeling like we had to be responsible for him,” Pinkett Smith said, “but he never had to be responsible for us, and that was a hard pill for me to swallow.”

    For years, the family weathered his abusive behavior, even when at times he was “typically drunk,” Pinkett Smith said. Eventually, though, he sobered up. 

    “Once he did get sober, he was really a gentle soul,” she said. “Now that I’m older, I have so much more compassion in knowing what he had gone through.”

    Then, just before his death, the actress and her father got in a fight.

    “The most difficult part of him dying like that is because he and I had had a horrendous fight when I found out that he relapsed,” she said. “I was like, ‘I don’t owe you nothing. You didn’t do shit for me, you didn’t do shit for Caleeb. I don’t owe you nothing.’ It was one of those.”

    It was only after he died that Pinkett Smith and her siblings were able to find forgiveness. 

    “I had the most startling realization that Rob’s life wasn’t about him being my father,” she said. “Rob’s life was about Rob being on his journey, and it just so happened along the way that he gave me life.”

    It was an “aha” moment, she said.

    “I realized he was not born to be my dad,” she explained. “That wasn’t the only thing he was here to do. He’s a person first, with his own journey.”

    View the original article at thefix.com