For Em Beihold, the intention was never to become a popstar. It was never on her radar that she'd tour (spoiler alert: she's currently touring), she never dreamt that millions of fans would stream her music (they do), or that she'd even be recording her songs.
Music has called for Em Beihold her entire life. It started when she saw a piano in the window and begged her parents to buy it for her. They'd let her, but only if she practiced. Em admitted with a laugh that she wasn't very good,
"I started playing the piano when I was 6 because I thought cool kids played instruments," Beihold confesses. "So I started with classical music and then got bored and wanted to see where the notes would go."
From there, the piano evolved into not only an instrument to conquer but a tool to help Em explore the world of music. After working with a teacher, who showed her the world of writing and introduced her ears to artists like Regina Spektor and Fiona Apple, the rest just fell into place.
"Growing up, the piano felt like my therapy, my journal, my closest friend."
As Em continued to grow up teaching music, she dreamt of making sync songs until she graduated high school (from her living room, she adds) during the pandemic in 2020. But everything changes with the rise of TikTok, an app capable of making your dreams come true and ruining the dreams of others.
Relatably, Beihold admits that she joined TikTok because her crush was posting at the time. But beyond a bit of doom-scrolling on her crush's account, Em quickly realized that this app leveled the playing field. Unlike YouTube, she mentions, you didn't need a certain amount of followers to get a certain amount of views. Game on.
"I secretly wanted to be an artist, but never let myself say it because I didn't think it was feasible. I never dreamt that I'd be going on tour or anything like that."
It didn't take long for the world to fall in love with Em Beihold's bitingly honest lyricism, her crisp vocal range that transcends timelessness, and her natural talent of writing what we're all feeling.
When she released her first major label debut single, "Numb Little Bug", which delves into her struggles of feeling nothing while on anti-depressants, fans were instantly captivated by her candid approach to mental health. But the success of "Numb Little Bug" didn't mean Em wanted to be pigeonholed into becoming the poster child for mental health music.
"When 'Numb Little Bug' came out, I was always bracing for the fall,"
After watching it climb to a million streams on Spotify in less than a day, Beihold remembers being frantic about it. While viral moments are amazing, she tells me how it can be hard to keep up with them when kicking off her career. But, nonetheless, 2022 was booked from there on out.
She tells me how she's always written about what she's feeling- there's no intention to be funny, or brutally honest, or mean- it's just whatever is coming out at the time. One thing is for sure: Em Beihold's music is deserving of the pop-stardom she didn't allow herself to dream of...and it's why she earned opening spots for acts like AJR, King Princess, and Lewis Capaldi. It's especially why she's in the midst of her very own headline tour.
Her music led her to other artists like Lauren Spencer Smith and GAYLE, where they created what Em refers to as "Bang Bang Part Two" with their hit song "Fantasy." The song's a scathing breakup anthem- written in LA by the trio as they talked about boys and scrolled through Instagram- Beihold shares that the session was special because it didn't feel like they were really writing a track, just hanging out.
Aside from her own music, she hopped on Stephen Sanchez's hit track, "Until I Found You"- a dreamy, nostalgic blend of their two voices on a timeless love song. She admits that she doesn't write about love very much, so when she went to write her verse, she was surprised to find it happened in less than a day.
They had created the song without meeting, coming together for the first time to perform at the Moroccan Lounge. The song worked so well that fans continue to speculate the pair are dating (despite the fact that she has a boyfriend who isn't Sanchez).
But her new music is where she shines the most, where she's on her own and staying true to her songwriting. She credits a team that helps uplift her abilities and allowt her shine in areas she's strong in. With a plethora of instruments in her repertoire including the ukulele, the piano, the guitar, and more, Beihold can continue to surprise us with her music.
Her most recent single, "Maybe Life Is Good", is a bit of a sonic shift for her: it's upbeat, a pop number with a hint of rock, about dreaming of better days. Written during a rough patch in Beihold's life, the song was more of an aspiration than a reality at the time of writing. You can listen to the song here:
"'Maybe Life Is Good' was a bit of a lifeline. I was writing about what, at the time, wasn't what I was feeling- which was optimism and positivity. So writing that song was a life vest for me."
As for the future, Em Beihold is currently on her very own Maybe Life Is Good tour, where $1 per ticket will go towards Active Minds, an organization that brings mental health services to college campuses, and there will be stands set up at every show. She teases surprise guests, special songs, and an overall amazing time.
Throughout this interview, Em Beihold has been humble, thoughtful, and insightful, which is exactly reflected in her music. As she rises further into popstardom, it'll be no surprise.
In a year of ups and downs for Megan Thee Stallion, she wants you to know that Bad Bitches Have Bad Days Too. The Body rapper has found success in performing all over the world, graduated from college, and won countless awards.
At the same time, she lost her mother and was shot, and accused of lying about it, by rapper Tory Lanez. This led to a public court case and even more public feud. Like I said, a year of ups and downs.
So Megan Thee Stallion knows quite a bit about bad days. And she wants to help all of her fans to get help when it’s necessary. It’s no longer taboo to speak about your issues and find healthy coping mechanisms. Broken down into categories, Bad Bitches Have Bad Days Too compiles mental health resources like therapy directories, free helplines for the Black and LGBTQIA+ communities, and more.
The website is an ode to her song Anxiety from her newest album, Traumazine.
Screenshot of the website
Bad Bitches Have Bad Days Too
In an interview for Taraji P. Henson’s Peace of Mind with Taraji, Megan opened up about the stigmas surrounding therapy,
"As a Black person and when you think of therapy, you think, 'oh my gosh, I'm weak.' Like you think of medication, and you just think the worst. 'Cause that's kind of what you see on TV too.Therapy wasn't even presented in the media as something that was good. Now it's becoming safe to say, 'All right now, it's a little too much going on, somebody help me. When people start to see me a lot or when my schedule gets really full, I'm probably going through something because I want to keep my mind busy."
We love is a Hot Girl using their platform to inspire other hotties to be the best versions of themselves. Megan’s openness with her fans makes us feel like she’s right alongside us.
When you think of Team USA at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, you think of Simone Biles.
Biles is indisputably the greatest gymnast of all time. She is the most decorated American gymnast of all time with four Olympic gold medals and 19 World Championship gold medals under her belt, as well as four other international gold medals and an additional nine silver and bronze medals.
She came into the world spotlight after the 2016 Olympics, part of the "Final Five" team alongside Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, and Aly Raisman. Biles stunned global audiences with her flawless execution and daring routines.
Over the past four years, she has continued to win big and keep innovating the sport, doing moves that no other gymnast has even attempted.
With her track record, many expected the same of her in the 2020 games — which is a lot to live up to.
After a few surprising missteps and stumbles by the team during preliminaries, Team USA came second to the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) by a slim, one point margin. Though both teams showed strong performances, the second place finish was unprecedented and Team USA's confidence was shaken.
In her first performance at Tuesday's finals, Biles landed awkwardly during her Amanar vault and subsequently withdrew from the finals.
Simone Biles: "I'm sorry. I love you guys, but you're gonna be just fine."\n\n"You guys have trained your whole entire life for this, it's fine. I've been to an Olympics, I'll be fine. This is your first \u2014 you go out there and kick ass, okay?"pic.twitter.com/r2RxWQ2Dsy
The official statement read: "Simone Biles has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions."
However, comments from the Team Coach and Simone herself reveal that her withdrawal might partly be attributed to mental health.
In an Instagram post following the qualifiers, Biles posted on Instagram about how hard dealing with the pressure has been.
"It wasn't an easy day or my best but I got through it," she said. "I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times. I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn't affect me but damn sometimes it's hard"
After she left the floor, Simone reportedly said "dealing with some things internally that will get fixed in the next few days."
Good news. Our man @JohnWatsonSport has just spoken to @Simone_Biles .Said she is ok but \u201cdealing with some things internally that will get fixed in the next few days.\u201d He asked her if she will be back here on Thursday for the women\u2019s all around final - she said YES. #Tokyo2020
Despite withdrawing from the competition, Biles stayed on to cheer for her teammates, help them chalk their hands, and congratulate the final winners from ROC.
With a score of 169.528, the ROC took home the Gold medal, while Team USA came second, earning 166.096 — less than a four point margin.
After the competition, Biles gave an interview about her mental health, saying that one of her goals is "to focus on my well being. You know there's more to life than just gymnastics."
Despite athletes like Michael Phelps being vocal about his struggles with mental illness all through the Olympics coverage, the pressure is still insurmountable for many athletes and Biles's courage to step away — for physical and or mental reasons — is testament to her talent.
Biles is already the greatest — we know that. And being unapologetic about her needs and her vulnerabilities, especially as a Black woman, only makes her even more inspiring.
Like most NYU students, Christine from Lady Bird needed therapy
It's a tale as old as time: the search for catharsis.
And since movies are the form of storytelling most apt for mindless escapism, film tropes have emerged to give us the satisfying feeling of catharsis through well-worn story structure and character formulations.
Every genre of film has seen iterations of the cathartic "hero's journey": violent blockbusters, fantasy epics, even charming indies. When executed well, you have a great film. But even a subpar movie can give that feeling of release if it follows some of the tried and true story elements — hence the endless Fast & Furious, Mission Impossible, James Bond sequels, and the like.
Most often, the exchange between tension and catharsis is played up every summer for major box office films. The majority of these star mysterious, jaded protagonists who are looking for catharsis through revenge or triumph. What draws us to these characters is often their rugged determination and their single-minded focus. These protagonists (mostly men) are often successful in their pursuits … but at what cost?
As we become more and more aware of the toxic messaging of culture and media, and more and more knowledgeable about mental health, some of the classic hero tropes are beginning to lose their aspirational luster. The proliferation of characters who are textbook definitions of toxic masculinity or male fantasies of "damaged" women no longer has the hold on us that it once had.
As filmmaking becomes more complex, different and diverse stories are making their way to the forefront, moving even mainstream movies away from contrived formulas and one-dimensional protagonists. And with increased access to and conversation about mental health, characters are getting more self-aware and films are increasingly exploring characters on journeys to catharsis through self-knowledge and therapy.
As we acclimate to a new era and move away from the overly familiar angst and aggressions of tropic protagonists, rewatching iconic films often begs the question: What if this character had just … gone to therapy?
Bruce Wayne in "Batman"
Pretty much every popular superhero should be in therapy. Most of their origin stories depend on some unresolved trauma that they work through by saving everybody else. Peter Parker feeling responsible for Uncle Ben's death? Therapy. Orphaned alien Clark Kent? Therapy. Bruce Wayne watching his parents die and inheriting billions of dollars as a kid? Therapy.
And because Bruce Wayne's origin story doesn't depend on any mutations or supernatural ability, his entire superhero persona is built out of a childhood fear of bats (more therapy) and money he could have used to fund community programs to reduce crime — someone should have given him a book on abolitionist theory, too — instead of engineering technology to fight it himself.
The Christian Bale iteration of Batman (because we don't talk about George Clooney's nipple-heavy batman suit, nor Ben Affleck's Zack Snyder version) sees the young Bruce Wayne searching for meaning and purpose in the wake of his parent's death. But instead of going on a stoic sojourn to learn hand-to-hand combat, he should have just talked to someone.
The fantasy genre is also ridden with orphaned children who turn their trauma into the pursuit for justice. The most popular example has to be Harry Potter. After a life of torment and mistreatment by his uncle and aunt, Harry gets to live out the fantasy of any neglected child: escape.
And somehow, going off to Hogwarts and coming into his parents' money seemed to solve everything for Harry — though who is going to talk about the fact that he squandered his obscene wealth on novelty candy, quidditch gear, and butterbeer while his best friend literally lived in poverty?
Sure, he endured years of abuse at home and watched some of his friends die in the war against the dark arts (RIP Cedric Diggory, Robert Pattinson's most iconic role), but everything turned out fine.
In reality, Harry's internal struggles about his parents, his childhood, and even his more Slytherin side could have been a lot less emotionally taxing if he had gone to therapy. And maybe he wouldn't have ended up becoming the magic world's equivalent of a cop, either.
The Narrator in "Fight Club"
The narrator in Fight Club is famously suffering from insomnia and probably anxiety from his dissatisfaction with his life — so much so that he lives in a disembodied state and creates an imagined version of himself. And though he seeks out sleeping medication and support groups, his unexamined life is the cause of his extreme dissociation.
Though he blames the monotomy of consumerist society (and he does makes some points, hence the cultish following the book and film have both garnered), looking for meaning through physical violence and hyper masculine aggression is not the answer — which was, in fairness, Chuck Palahniuk's point.
And while the narrator has a revelation about his mental state at the end, he never truly comes to terms with the deep-seated emotional unrest that started him on his downward path. He's a prime candidate for therapy, and so is every member of the fight club, as well as anyone in real life who tells you it's their favorite book and film for any reason other than Brad Pitt circa 1999. That's a cry for help.
Cliff Booth in "Once Upon a Time In ... Hollywood"
Speaking of Brad Pitt, he was undoubtedly the highlight of Quentin Tarantino's 2019 Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood. The film, a love letter to Hollywood and the '70s, starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as an actor-stunt double duo, a combination which made for a glorious press tour and an even more glorious award season filled with Brad Pitt acceptance speeches that felt like a Mr. Congeniality tour, and we were here for it.
But, like any Tarantino production, Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood was deeply flawed. The classic Tarantino revenge fantasy played out a version of the '70s in which the Manson murder of Sharon Tate never happened becuase it was stopped in its tracks by Leo and Brad's characters. But despite the retributive ending, Brad's character, Cliff Booth, had a lot to answer for.
The repressed violence which he unleashed on the would-be murderers is moralized by his righteous victory but is more sinister than the resolution makes it seem. A key, but under discussed character point is that Booth was rumored to have killed his wife for being … annoying? There is also a scene in which he attacks a fictionalized, highly stereotyped version of Bruce Lee while on set … also for being annoying.
And while all is well that ends well for Cliff Booth, we could have done without the problematic violence that was one of the baselines of his character. Or, at the very least, he could have done with some therapy.
Barry Egan in "Punch Drunk Love"
Adam Sandler might be known for his goofy slapstick comedy, but his most celebrated roles are those in which he plays neurotic, anxious characters who get themselves into more trouble than they need to.
Most recently, 2019's Uncut Gems sees Sandler as a self-sabotaging jewelry merchant who comes into some luck and quickly loses it. But the precursor to this role is his role in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punk Drunk Love. Sandler plays Barry Egan, an anxious, shy man who is prone to the occasional violent outburst.
The movie follows Barry as he tries to pursue love while the pressure mounts from all sides — his overbearing family, his job, an extortionist, his own internal monologue. Egan's actions push him further and further into a spiral which could have been alleviated had he just gone to therapy, from finding the confidence to pursue his love interest to dealing with the pressures of his work and his family to addressing his violent bursts and self-criticism.
The Entirety of "The Breakfast Club"
Nothing has come close to capturing the suburban teen mood as well as the cultish charms of John Hughes films in the 80s. And while time has illuminated the way in which they were problematic and exclusive, they still have an appeal to even teenagers now.
What has kept them transcendent is their focus on teen anxieties, which make young people feel, in some ways, understood. The Breakfast Club is undoubtedly John Hughes's magnum opus for its timelessness. In a way, the characters act out a version of a support group and group therapy, finding catharsis through sitting on the library floor, talking out their feelings and writing a manifesto for the ages.
It's comforting, especially when you watch and marvel at The Breakfast Club for the first time as a trembling ball of teenage need, to think that you can confess all your secrets to a group of friends and suddenly be healed. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Though they practice some of the pillars of therapy, talking about their lives, thoughts, feelings, and upbringings, each of the characters is a prime candidate for actual therapy, more than a moment of tenderness with a group of strangers can provide.
Jamie Rellis in "Friends with Benefits"
It's not just men that are thrust into tropes that think "complexity" is interchangeable with "emotionally stunted, repressed, and in desperate need of professional guidance." However, women are usually portrayed this way by men who don't give them the same agency as their male counterparts. Instead of the rescuer, they're the rescued. Instead of powerful and calculating, they're seen as heartless and unlovable — until they can finally open up again for the right man.
A lot of the time, this is the formula for romantic comedies in which stressed out, career-obsessed women need only one thing to solve their problems: a man. Even in self-aware romantic comedies which try to subvert the genre fall into the same trap. In Friends with Benefits, Mila Kunis plays Jamie Rellis, a fast-talking, brusk New Yorker who wants love but settles for an entanglement with J*stin T*mberlake's character, Dylan.
Jamie is supposed to be "not like other girls" because she's "realistic" about love, despite being a romantic at heart … which scares potential partners away. But her backstory, which is dropped into the film during conversation to establish her character without doing any of the work, reveals that she still hasn't processed her childhood trauma — an absent father, an unreliable mother, an unstable living situation.
But all of these details are just fodder for her quirkiness, and despite the ways they come up in her life and continually leave her disappointed, they are never addressed beyond her search for romance. Like most romantic comedies, what eventually completes Jamie is, you guessed it, love and grand gestures.
The romantic-comedy industrial complex has primed so many of us to think of relationships as the solutions to our problems, and that the "right person" will either accept us as we are or fix us. But bringing trauma into relationships will never end well, no matter what the end of Friends with Benefits tells you.
Every Manic Pixie Dream Girl Ever
Perhaps the most ubiquitous therapy-ready trope that women are thrust into in films is the manic pixie dream girl who is defined as a woman who "exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures."
The term was coined in reference to Kirsten Dunst's character in Elizabethtown and is pretty much everywhere. Often, what makes these characters so quirky and full of disdain for the conventions of life is their own trauma. These women, all alone in their white girl pain (a phrase used by Safy-Hallan Farah), are defined by their own vague sadnesses, which never get the chance to be addressed because they're not the focus of the movie.
So take all the MPDGs to therapy, give them their lives back, and free them from the clutches of these boring white men — who all need therapy, too.
Amy Dunne in "Gone Girl"
In an attempt to give back female characters' agency and subvert many of the tired tropes of women, Gillian Flynn wrote Gone Girl to give women a good villain. In a 2006 essay, Flynn wrote: "I've grown quite weary of the spunky heroines, brave rape victims, soul-searching fashionistas that stock so many books … I particularly mourn the lack of female villains — good, potent female villains."
With this in mind, Gone Girl, both the book and its film adaptation, gives us Amy Dunne, who fakes her own murder and watches her husband take the blame, only to end up forced back with him when her plan backfires. The saga is no doubt entertaining, and though it has been interpretated as feminist by some and mysoginistic by others, what can not be doubted is that Amy Dunne was in need of therapy.
The seemingly perfect wife claims in the infamous "cool girl monologue" that she, as women everywhere do, tailored herself into a version of the woman her husband wanted. The cool girl trope has been endlessly used — and some say it has evolved into a version of "cool girls" on social media who exist not to satisfy the male gaze but for social validation from other "cool girls" — but if anyone is out here changing their whole personality for external approval, this is your sign to attend therapy.
And if anyone is planning to frame their husband for their murder because they found out he is cheating, also time for therapy.
Lady Bird in "Lady Bird"
An instant cult classic, 2017's Lady Bird is the journey of a '90s era high school senior trying to escape the suburbs and her life on "the wrong side of the tracks." She tries her hand at escape tactics of the imagination: reinvention through her new name, theatre, relationships, and straight out lies about her life.
But Lady Bird (nee Christine) cannot actually escape her home, her circumstances, or her tumultuous relationship with her mother. The Greta Gerwig picture is tender, emotional, and artfully complex, painting a complicated picture of a complicated life. It seems for a moment that Christine won't get the escape she wants, and she will reckon with her life in some other way, but at the last minute, she is whisked away by an acceptance to NYU and goes off to the big city.
Promptly, she becomes that kid who gets rushed off to the hospital with alcohol poisoning at her first college party. After that experience, she has an epiphany and sends a letter to her mother which hints at reconciliation. But Christine is still reconciling with so much, and her penchant for drama and avoidance of her real life really ought to be addressed beyond her nostalgia.
Lady Bird is part of the zeitgeist of women-led stories which are unflinchingly intimate with flawed, lovable characters. But some of them could be spared a world of trouble by attending therapy. Here's to hoping.
Twelve years before Justin Bieber dropped his debut album, My World, and shook the tween universe with his side-swept bangs, there was Aaron Carter.
The younger brother of Backstreet Boy's heartthrob Nick Carter, Aaron was responsible for some of the most iconic hits of 2000, from "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)" and "That's How I Beat Shaq" to his overplayed cover of The Strangelove's "I Want Candy." Carter arguably "paved the way" for today's tween pop stars like Bieber to become cultural phenomenons.
Yet, as Carter once called out on Twitter, "These kids have NEVER paid me homage." To which Bieber himself responded, "Aaron carter I had your album when I was little. And bumped the song Aaron's party. I was like 7. If you need a hype man I got you."
— (@)
— (@)
More interestingly, however, Aaron Carter exemplifies how a sensational teenage pop star can fall from grace into a pit of drug addiction and mental illness — and no one can notice. America's infatuation with celebrities is mostly founded upon the hope that one day our icons will crash and burn; that way, we can witness the depths of their ruin and simultaneous determination to rise from the ashes and redeem themselves and their careers.
Ultimately, we root for them like modern-day epic heroes embarking on great quests and surviving their own tragic flaws. Plus, there's usually sex and drugs involved, which usually results in hilarious, cringey antics.
Back when tabloids were just beginning their love affair with Lindsay Lohan's long and slow decline from the darling in Parent Trap (1998) to Hollywood party girl to yet another reality TV caricature (RIP Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club)—and just one year before Britney Spears' public breakdown and before Keeping Up with the Kardashians plumbed the depths of reality TV—there was E! network's reality TV series House of Carter, starring Nick Carter, Aaron Carter, and their three sisters. Donning Ed Hardy trucker hats and speaking with a "dawg"-infused blaccent that could rival Ariana Grande's, the show (literally) broadcasted Aaron Carter's "self-destructive habits."
And no one cared. As it turned out, being a celebrity "trainwreck" isn't enough to revive public interest. Even in the age of #FreeBritney and celebrity sex tape scandals, a starlet's 15 minutes of fame seemed to come with a very narrow window of time in which they can turn their fall into an epic spectacle or just...disappear. Aaron Carter is an early aughts star who missed his window — so he keeps falling out of it in the hopes that America will notice.
Follow us on this cringey journey through the public cries for help Aaron Carter has staged in the last few years.
Eating Disorder (2017)
In 2017, days after he was arrested for a DUI, the then-29-year-old gave a tearful interview to Entertainment Tonight about his body image issues. "I have a stress condition; it's an eating disorder."
EXCLUSIVE: Aaron Carter Tears Up Talking About His Eating Disorder Admits He Gets Fillers in His …youtu.be
Carter's weight had been a long-time concern, but he'd consistently blamed it on a hiatal hernia he'd been "diagnosed" with at age 19. But even severe hiatal hernias (which usually occur in people over 50) aren't commonly linked to emaciation. As the host of The Doctors told him, "You are malnourished, and your body mass index at 17 is in a scary range." Dr Stork added, "We can't just sit here and blame it on a hiatal hernia. We have got to work on this."
HIV (2017)
When he appeared on The Doctors, aside from problematic comments that conflated bisexuality with simple appreciation of both male and female beauty, Carter said he was concerned he had HIV because he "hadn't always been safe, sexually."
While he tested negative, the doctors tried to direct his attention to the number of prescription drugs he was taking. Specifically, Carter was warned that his combination of drugs was the same one that caused his sister, Leslie Carter's, death from overdosing in 2012.
Aaron Carter Gets Emotional After Getting Results of His HIV Test on 'The Doctors' -- Watch!youtu.be
Addiction (2018)
Carter entered rehab in 2018, where he says he was diagnosed with PTSD caused by the recent death of his father that year, compounded by the sudden death of his sister six years prior. During his two-month stay, the singer went from weighing 115 pounds to 160 pounds. Soon after leaving rehab, Carter released his first album in 15 years, LøVë, which peaked at number 37 on Billboard's US Independent Albums chart.
Aaron Carter Opens Up About Addiction and How He Was Able to Gain Weight So Quickly (Exclusive)youtu.be
Schizophrenia, "Multiple Personality Disorder," and Acute Anxiety (2019)
Carter, 31, returned to The Doctors to make a confusing declaration. "The official diagnosis is that I suffer from multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, acute anxiety; I'm manic depressive," Carter said. As an "official diagnosis," it's very odd and unlikely that he was told he has "multiple personality disorder" or "manic depression," as those are both outdated terms that are no longer used by mental health professionals. Those severe conditions are now referred to as Dissociative Identity Disorder and Bipolar Disorder, respectively.
Carter continued, "I'm prescribed to Xanax, Seroquel, gabapentin, hydroxyzine, trazodone, omeprazole." Holding up a bag of prescription pill bottles, Carter stared dead-eyed at the audience. "This is my reality. Hi," he said.
Aaron Carter Reveals His Mental Diagnoses and Prescriptionsyoutu.be
In September of last year, Aaron Carter's brother and sister filed a restraining order against him. Nick Carter posted on Twitter that his fears were in response to "increasingly alarming behavior and [Aaron's] recent confession that he harbors thoughts and intentions of killing my pregnant wife and unborn child." He added hope that "he gets the proper treatment he needs before any harm comes to himself or anyone else.
In response, Carter displayed more of the exact concerning behavior in question. He's been manically updating his Twitter account all week, including briefly changing his display name to "if your reading this its too late." He posted, "All I ask is for my family to leave me alone. This is blood. Not love. I will never be around you and I don't want to be around you. I am the one who said I'm done then you send me this?! Ok. Stop trying to be 5150'd before I file a harassment suit myself nick I have the $."
After accusing his brother of trying to have him institutionalized in a 72-hour psychiatric hold, Carter threatened to sue and began calling his brother a rapist (referring to public accusations of fans who have accused Nick Carter of assaulting them). Regardless of whether Nick Carter should be the next #MeToo musician, Aaron Carter tested positive for cannabis and opiates, despite vowing he was clean post-rehab, and he's been bizarrely outspoken about owning more than 500 guns and his eagerness to "protect" himself and his family. (He's also a confirmed dog abuser).
Obviously, struggles with mental illness and addiction are real and valid. Millions of people survive addiction and mental health crises every year, and spreading awareness through public platforms is progressive and empowering.
However, spreading misinformation about mental illness is invalidating to individuals affected by it and hinders society from normalizing and better understanding mental health care. Living with a mental illness has absolutely nothing to do with being attention-seeking, narcissistic, or showboating.That's just Aaron Carter being Aaron Carter.
In 2020, Aaron Carte gave sex work a bad name when he made his adult film debut as a cam boy via CamSoda, with a representative of the site teasing that the singer will "eat bananas teasingly and peel some with his feet" and then pleasure himself. The former singer also ran his poorly reviewed Only Fans.
Recently, Carter was knocked out by Lamar Odom in a celebrity boxing match that few people were aware of beforehand. With Carter knocked out in two rounds, Uproxx noted, "hardly anything about it felt real."
Is Aaron Carter even real? At best, he's a byproduct of early 2000s pop fantasia and tween fanaticism. At worst, he's a has-been whose personal struggles have knocked him from an adolescent limelight into the darkness of adulthood and who will chase the light by any means.
At the end of May, right at the the closing of Mental Health Month, tennis superstar and actual Disney princess Naomi Osaka made a shocking announcement: She would be withdrawing from the French Open to take care of her mental health.
On Wednesday May 26th, Osaka announced that she would not speak to the media during Roland Garros, saying: "I've often felt that people have no regard for athletes' mental health, and this rings true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one."
Questioning the role of press junkets during the tournament, Osaka received pushback from many — including other athletes like Billie Jean King — but she was prepared for it, and ready to have further conversations after the Open. On May 30th, she tweeted that "change makes people uncomfortable," standing by her decision.
Osaka also acknowledged that her decision to skip her press obligations would result in fines and she was ready to pay them, as other athletes who have skipped out on press have done in the past.
However, the organization behind the Open was not pleased. The Grand Slam organization released a statement saying: "Following the lack of engagement by Naomi Osaka, the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open jointly wrote to her to check on her well-being and offer support, underline their commitment to all athletes' well-being and suggest dialog on the issues," AKA a jargon-filled introduction to what would continue to be an abysmal response to the concerns of a young athlete.
The statement evolved into a threat, saying: "We have advised Naomi Osaka that should she continue to ignore her media obligations during the tournament, she would be exposing herself to possible further Code of Conduct infringement consequences. As might be expected, repeat violations attract tougher sanctions including default from the tournament (Code of Conduct article III T.) and the trigger of a major offence investigation that could lead to more substantial fines and future Grand Slam suspensions (Code of Conduct article IV A.3.)."
Despite her initial willingness to pay the fines, which she hoped would be donated to mental health causes, Osaka quickly grew tired of the exaggerated speculation around her decision.
So she quit.
After days of media speculation and conversation, Osaka posted another statement on May 31st: "I'm gonna take some time away from the court now, but when the time is right I really want to work with the Tour to discuss ways we can make things better for the players, press, and fans."
She elaborated on her earlier statement, revealing more about her own mental health and her decision to back away to protect it, while no longer being a distraction to the Open. "Anyone that knows me knows I'm introverted, and anyone that has seen me at tournaments will notice that I'm often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety," she said. "Though the tennis press has always been kind to me (and I wanna apologize especially to all the cool journalists who I may have hurt), I am not a natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the world's media."
Despite the initial mixed reactions, Osaka's bold move and further statements have been met with mostly shock and empathy. Many are also criticizing the statement by the Grand Slam organizations as "shameful" calling this "a sad day for tennis."
Despite being ranked second in the world and being the highest paid female athlete of the year, the Grand Slam treated Osaka with very little respect. Though tennis has often been the home of big personalities and emotional displays, Osaka's treatment is similar to how Serena Williams was often mistreated by the institution.
As Black women, Osaka and Williams have often been called unreasonable for standing up for themselves and questioning the established power structures and rules of the exclusive tennis world.
Serena Williams sent out a message of support to Osaka after her own win on the courts on May 31st, saying: "I feel like I wish I could give her a hug because I know what it's like. Like I said, I've been in those positions. We have different personalities, and people are different."
It was just a few years ago that Naomi\u2019s demure demeanor was used to juxtapose against Serena\u2019s \u201caggression\u201d and now the same thing Naomi was once exalted for is what she\u2019s being criticized for. Misogynor is so flexible in its cruelty.https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1399425686209716225\u00a0\u2026
— Fiona Applebum says Block Shaun King \ud83c\udf4e (@Fiona Applebum says Block Shaun King \ud83c\udf4e)
1622487430
Others are also questioning the support for mental health that the Grand Slam organizations purported to have in their statement but seem not to have in practice.
The treatment of Osaka reminds us of the superhuman expectations we have of athletes, as well as the superhuman expectations we have of Black women. As a 23-year-old thrust into the spotlight after her first win in 2018, Osaka was asking for support in her first statement. Instead, she was met with criticism and threats.
Her second statement revealed how her mental health has plummeted since her first win, directly tying some of her anxiety to the pressures of her position and the media attention, saying: "The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018, and I have had a really hard time coping with that."
But as a Black woman, making a plea for help, Osaka was told to be grateful and to suck it up.
An international debate over whether Osaka should be punished for trying to prioritize her mental health is an excellent way to close out mental health awareness month and show how society actually feels about the topic. *chef\u2019s kiss*
It is a testament to her grace that she had the courage to keep prioritizing her mental health even in the face of so much criticism and speculation and that she continued to be vulnerable instead of keeping her head down or acquiescing to the demands of the Grand Slam.
Though it is a radical act of self care to prioritize her mental health, she should not have had to have made such a drastic choice. Living her dream, playing at the highest levels of her sport, Osaka shouldn't just be "grateful" — she should be happy.
And if even fellow athletes are rolling their eyes at the reality of the institution, calling her spoiled for pointing out its flaws, doesn't that show that there's a problem? Osaka's questions about the role of the media did not, as she clarified, come from disdain for journalists, whom she admitted are often kind to her, but rather from a fearless assertion of the treatment she deserves from her literal job.
Though some claimed that Osaka was seeking an unfair advantage by not talking to the press, her decision is an indicator of her place in a generation which prioritizes mental health and flexibility over the rigidity and grin-and-bear-it attitude of the past.
What this means for tennis and the press relationship of athletes going forward, we'll find out. But for now, we just want Naomi Osaka to be happy.
