15 Celebrities with Anxiety Who Are Breaking Mental Health Stigma

Update Date

March 31th, 2025

Author

Anxiety Checklist Editorial Team

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When Emma Stone had her first panic attack at age 7, she thought she was dying. As one of many celebrities with anxiety who started experiencing symptoms early in life, her story resonates with millions.
Years later, she'd create a powerful metaphor for her anxiety: a little green monster on her shoulder that grows bigger with every anxious thought.
A recent study found that 36% of the general population experienced increased anxiety in 2023. Behind these anxiety statistics are real stories—including those of celebrities with anxiety who've chosen to speak up despite the stigma.
Their honesty shows us something important: anxiety disorders touch all kinds of life, regardless of fame or success. Celebrities with anxiety must navigate both personal challenges and public perception.
To better understand how anxiety manifests, it's helpful to recognize its common signs and symptoms. Here's a visual guide that breaks down the key indicators.

How Celebrities with Anxiety are Changing the Conversation

When Ryan Reynolds opened up about his severe anxiety in an interview on Instagram in 2021, he joined a growing community of celebrities with anxiety who chose vulnerability over silence.

Thousands responded with their own stories of mental illness.

Like many other celebrities with anxiety, Reynolds found that being open about his struggles helped both himself and others.
The comments section was filled with people sharing their experiences with anxiety and depression, and many said his openness about these mental health issues inspired them to seek help.
"Sorry for the repeated message. But your openness to this made me open enough to ask for help," one follower wrote.
The impact of these personal revelations extends far beyond individual stories, creating ripples of change throughout society. Let's look at the key ways stories from celebrities with anxiety can drive positive change:

This is why celebrities with anxiety speaking up matters so much. When someone like Lady Gaga tells Vogue about her severe panic attacks, it does more than make headlines.
The experiences of celebrities with anxiety resonate with many people.
While each person's journey with anxiety is unique, there are several proven paths to finding support and relief. Let's explore the various levels of help available, including self-help methods like breathing exercises and meditation.

Is anxiety holding you back from the life you deserve?

Celebrities with Anxiety Who Have Dealt with Panic Attacks

For many people, panic attacks can feel like a life-or-death situation, striking without warning and leaving them feeling helpless.

Knowing how to identify and respond to panic attacks is crucial. Here’s an overview of the warning signs and immediate actions to take.

Now, let’s talk about some celebrities with anxiety who have bravely shared their experiences with panic attacks.

1. Lady Gaga

Back in 2018, the pop star started speaking up about something she'd kept hidden for her entire life. In an interview with Vogue, she pulled back the curtain on her daily battles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorder.
In her candid interview with Vogue, she described the physical toll of her anxiety:
"My diaphragm seizes up. Then I have a hard time breathing, and my whole body goes into a spasm."
Like many other celebrities with anxiety, the road hasn't been easy. She's faced fibromyalgia alongside her mental health issues, often finding herself experiencing a nervous breakdown before performances.
Her anxiety got so intense she had to cut short her European tour by ten shows.
Here’s Gaga speaking up after the incident:

2. Ryan Reynolds

Nobody saw this kind of revelation coming from the "Deadpool" star. In an interview with The New York Times, Reynolds opened up about the anxiety and panic that he has battled his entire life.

His honesty about lifelong struggles resonated with many:
"I have anxiety; I've always had anxiety."
The roots of his mental health problems run deep, back to a childhood where his coping mechanism was to become the family peacekeeper, trying to prevent what felt like an impending nervous breakdown.
Speaking about childhood trauma, he shared:
"When you stress out kids, there's a weird paradox that happens because they're suddenly taking on things that aren't theirs to take on."
Just like many celebrities with anxiety, Reynolds has found his way through it: sometimes he'll do interviews as Deadpool—easier to handle anxiety when you're in character.
He uses the meditation app Headspace, just like many celebrities with anxiety do. He's also noticed that his anxiety lifts as soon as he hits the stage.
In a short interview with Page Six, Ryan talked about how he had “little rituals” that helped him stay grounded when dealing with anxiety and panic attacks.

3. Selena Gomez

When Gomez checked into treatment for her anxiety issues, she was hitting a wall that many performers with an anxiety disorder know too well.
The panic attacks had started creeping in, ambushing her right before she'd go on stage or just after she'd stepped off. Her experience with mental illness left her self-esteem in pieces. In an interview with Vogue, she said:
"I was depressed, anxious. I started to have panic attacks right before getting on stage, or right after leaving the stage."
She also got real about how social anxiety affects her life. As is common with celebrities with anxiety, Instagram had become like a compulsion, feeding her anxiety issues—the first thing she'd check in the morning and the last thing at night.
These days? Her assistant handles the posts while she focuses on what everyday health truly means. Selena Gomez is also a vocal advocate of mental health.

4. Stephen Colbert

Before he became a Saturday Night Live legend, Stephen Colbert faced some seriously unfunny moments with anxiety disorders.
After getting married, his mental health issues took a dark turn. His wife would come home to find him walking in tight circles around the couch, a manifestation of his anxiety and depression.
Speaking about his experiences at Chicago's Second City comedy club, he shared:
"I would curl up in a ball on the couch backstage and wait to hear my cue lines."
The weird part? Once he hit the stage, his social anxiety disorder would lift. But the second he stepped off, he'd experience another full-blown panic attack.
Colbert talked about how he’s handling his anxiety in a “The Late Show” episode with John Mulaney.

When doctors prescribed anxiety medication, Stephen Colbert gave it a try but stopped after a week. He could still feel the anxiety symptoms; he just couldn't hear them anymore.
Instead, he chose to work through his anxiety issues the hard way. At one point, he woke up and realized something had shifted: the fire under his skin was gone.

Celebrities Managing Social Anxiety

Being in the spotlight comes with its special brand of anxiety. For celebrities with anxiety, walking a red carpet or hitting a stage isn't just another day at the office—it's a battle with their minds.

Many people confuse social anxiety with stage fright, but these conditions have distinct characteristics and impacts. Here's a clear comparison to help understand the differences.

Between the constant scrutiny and the pressure to be "on" all the time, celebrities with anxiety have to find ways to manage their social anxiety while living very public lives.

5. Adele

Nobody saw it coming when Adele started hitting the gym twice a day. Everyone thought it was about weight loss, but in her raw chat with Vogue, she set the record straight.
The gym became her escape hatch from social anxiety—a place where the noise in her head would finally quiet down.
The divorce, the pressure, her son Angelo trying to understand why things were changing—it all piled up.
Her way through it? Therapy sessions where she finally faced old wounds, sound baths that helped steady her nerves, and friends who'd sit with her through the meltdowns.
Speaking of one such occasion, Adele said:
"She would be like, Mmm hmm. She’d be like, Yeah, that happened to me once. I felt like that once. I’d be there having these meltdowns. Like, sobbing, sobbing, sobbing. And she’d be so calm."
These days, she's finding her feet again. Still anxious sometimes, sure, but stronger. She's even back to performing, though she does it her way now—no more pushing through when her body says stop.

6. Zendaya

Even with all her success, Zendaya deals with anxiety that makes her want to hide away. About managing her anxiety, she explained:
"But when I’m not working, I tend to isolate myself. My therapist, family, and friends will tell me, ‘You need to get up and get out,’ and I never want to—but when I make myself do it, I realize it’s actually kind of nice."
For Zendaya, managing anxiety means setting small, doable goals: taking a shower, putting on real clothes, and catching some sunshine. Like many celebrities with anxiety, it was about learning to take care of herself, one step at a time.
Even with her partnership with athletic brand On, she admits she's not a workout warrior—but she's discovering how movement helps quiet her anxious mind.
Her openness about these struggles comes with a message: life isn't perfect for anyone, no matter how glamorous they might look on the red carpet. Sometimes just facing the day is enough of a win.

7. Jennifer Lawrence

In an interview with Sports Illustrated about her anxiety disorder, she revealed:
"I get really insecure. I find a certain peace by thinking of myself in public as sort of an avatar self. You out there can have the avatar me. I can keep me."
Speaking to The New York Times about fame and anxiety, she admitted to something many celebrities with anxiety wouldn't:
"I Google myself. You try being 22, having a period, and staying away from Google. I once Googled 'Jennifer Lawrence Ugly."
Likewise, in a 2012 interview with David Letterman, she shared how she “hated herself” and struggled with her mental health, a common admission from many celebrities with anxiety.

But she's learned to tackle her anxiety and depression with a mix of humor and honesty. These days, she's found ways to stay true to herself while navigating life, including hosting parties at home instead of hitting Hollywood hotspots.

8. Chris Evans

When Marvel came calling for Captain America, Evans' anxiety disorder nearly made him turn down the role of a lifetime. It wasn't the action scenes that triggered his anxiety symptoms—it was everything else.
A six-movie contract felt like signing away his entire life, his private world, maybe even an acceptance of constant panic attacks.
But facing that fear taught him something unexpected about managing mental illness. During his interview with MTV News, he described how being forced into the spotlight helped calm his racing thoughts.

As some celebrities with anxiety have discovered, Evans also learned that most of the disasters we imagine never actually happen, and even when things do go wrong, we survive them.
"When you choose not to dwell on them [anxiety], to look for them, to read or absorb them, they do disappear."
These days, he sees his journey with anxiety as less about fighting it and more about perspective—making your world big enough that your fears don't take up all the space.

Celebrities Who Have Battled Anxiety Since Childhood

For some celebrities with anxiety, their battles started early. For these celebrities, anxiety wasn't something that showed up with fame or success—it was there in the playground, at school assemblies, and before sleepovers that never happened.

Their stories stretch back to childhood, showing how early experiences with anxiety shaped them and how they've learned to carry those lessons into adulthood.

9. Prince Harry

The loss of his mother when he was just 12 led Prince Harry down a long road of unprocessed grief and anxiety.
Opening up to The Telegraph about his delayed grief and anxiety, he admitted:
"I shut down all my emotions for the last 20 years."
It wasn't until he hit 28, feeling "on the verge of punching someone" and battling anxiety during public appearances, that he finally sought help. His brother William's advice to him was:
"Look, you really need to deal with this. It is not normal to think that nothing has affected you."
Boxing became his outlet—better to punch pads than people, he jokes. Through counseling and support from those close to him, he's learned to talk honestly about his feelings.
Now he's one of the celebrities with anxiety determined to normalize mental health conversations, hoping to make it easier for others to seek help. In 2022, he discussed how he’s dealing with his mental health in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

10. Emma Stone

When discussing her first experiences with anxiety at age seven, Emma Stone shared with Rolling Stone:

"I was convinced the house was burning down. I could sense it. Not a hallucination, just a tightening in my chest, feeling like I couldn’t breathe, like the world was going to end. At a certain point, I couldn’t go to friends’ houses anymore—I could barely get out the door to school."

But Stone's story took a different turn thanks to her parents' early intervention with therapy, something many celebrities with anxiety are not fortunate to have. She even wrote about her experience, drawing her anxiety as a little green monster that she could face down.
Pretty soon, she stumbled onto something that would change everything—acting. On stage, especially in improv, she couldn't be stuck in her head worrying about what might go wrong.
She had to be right there in the moment, and that made all the difference.

11. Kendall Jenner

Speaking to Vogue about her anxiety patterns, Kendall Jenner revealed:
"I'm a negative thinker. That's my problem. I'm always worrying about something that may never happen."
She's dealt with anxiety since age 7, having panic attacks so bad she'd run to her mom, Kris Jenner, struggling to breathe. The hard part? Doctors kept saying she was fine, but she knew something wasn't right. She remembers:
"I was an emotional kid, always in my feelings and my head."
As many celebrities with anxiety do when things get tough, she often abandons the practices that could help. But she's learning.
These days, she finds peace in horseback riding—her "healthy addiction" that gets her outside, away from her phone, focusing only on the next jump ahead.

12. John Green

The New York Times bestseller author knows what it's like when your mind becomes overwhelmed with compulsive thoughts.
His battle with obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety disorders goes back to childhood, when his mental illness manifested in strict routines.
Through medication and therapy, his anxiety issues are usually managed, but sometimes his mental health problems still overwhelm him. During one particularly bad anxiety attack, John Green survived on Sprite and couldn't leave his kitchen floor.

Celebrities with Anxiety Who Used Their Platform for Change

For these celebrities with anxiety, sharing their struggles isn't just about personal healing—it's about changing the conversation. They're using their fame to shine a light on mental health, turning their pain into purpose.

These celebrities with anxiety are actively working to create change through various channels. Here's how they're making an impact.

13. Michael Phelps

The Olympic champion has traded his swimming platform for a different kind of podium. "I want to change the mental health world," he declared at a healthcare conference.
Despite being the most decorated Olympian ever, Phelps is clear that his current mission matters more than any gold medal.
He's brutally honest about his ongoing battles with depression and anxiety and teaches his kids it's okay to be open about mental health. When he's struggling, he tells them he's having a "Daddy day," encouraging them to share their feelings too.
Speaking about his new mission in mental health advocacy, he said:
"To be able to have a chance to save a life is a million times better than winning a gold medal."
In his sit-down with NBC News, he advises those facing similar struggles to reach out to loved ones and that they are not alone.

14. Demi Lovato

"The very first time that I went to treatment was when I was 18," Lovato shared with NBC News. Facing a choice between silence and openness, they chose to speak out.
Speaking about their motivation to help others, they shared:
"I wish that I had somebody when I was 13 years old and having an eating disorder and starving myself."
Many celebrities with anxiety have turned their struggles into a mission to help others, particularly teenagers facing similar battles.
They emphasized the importance of reaching out:
"Talking to people and asking for help is more than okay and is absolutely what you should do."
Through documentaries and interviews, they're working to normalize conversations about mental health among young people.

15. Carson Daly

After watching NBA player Kevin Love talk about having a panic attack during a game, Daly felt compelled to share his own story on the TODAY Show .
For over a decade, he'd been dealing with generalized anxiety disorder and panic attacks, finding relief through cognitive behavioral therapy.
On making mental healthcare more accessible, he stated:
"Finding mental health services should be as easy these days as booking an airline ticket or getting an Uber with technology."
The weird part? Once he hit the stage, his social anxiety disorder would lift. But the second he stepped off, he'd experience another full-blown panic attack.
As a father, he's especially focused on opening up these conversations with his kids, asking them to share one good thing and one bad thing that happened each day.
Carson has also been active in spreading awareness about mental health and providing support with Project Healthy Minds.

The path from struggling silently to becoming a mental health advocate often follows a similar pattern for many of these celebrities with anxiety. Let's break down this life-changing journey:

Frequently Asked Questions

Many celebrities deal with anxiety disorders, from pop star performers to famous actors. There's no "most famous" person with mental health problems because these conditions affect people from all walks of life.

While anxiety can be managed effectively with proper treatment, including therapy and sometimes medication, it's often about learning to cope rather than "overcoming" it completely.

The celebrities with anxiety we’ve talked about demonstrate how they've learned to live successful lives while managing their anxiety.

As many of the stories of celebrities with anxiety show, anxiety is often something you learn to manage rather than cure entirely.

Through various approaches like therapy, medication, exercise, and mindfulness, people can significantly reduce their symptoms and live fulfilling lives.

Triggers vary from person to person. Some experience panic attacks from performance pressure, while others deal with social anxiety from public appearances.

Many celebrities with anxiety have found that sharing their struggles in an interview helps others understand these challenges.

Many of these celebrities with anxiety mention different approaches. For instance, Taylor Swift uses L-theanine supplements, while others rely on prescribed medications.

However, it's crucial to consult with healthcare professionals about treatment options.

Conclusion

The stories of these celebrities with anxiety remind us that mental illness isn't something you overcome once and for all.
When celebrities with anxiety like Jennifer Lawrence or Stephen Colbert talk about their issues, they're doing more than sharing personal struggles—they're showing us that mental health problems aren't a sign of weakness.
These stories demonstrate that mental health issues can be managed with proper support and treatment. Most importantly, they show that no one needs to face these challenges alone.

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15 Celebrities with Anxiety Who Are Breaking Mental Health Stigma

How Celebrities with Anxiety are Changing the Conversation

Is anxiety holding you back from the life you deserve?