Being in the spotlight puts a lot of pressure on celebrities to share every detail of their lives with the world, no matter how private they might be. So when stars stay quiet for a while, the media can sense that there’s something up, and they’ll do whatever they can to figure out exactly what. In most cases, celebrities’ reasons for staying out of the spotlight involve a personal situation that they need to focus on before their career. Once they find the courage to speak out about their issues, they often find that more people find inspiration from their stories, rather than shame.
Earlier this year, Selena Gomez spoke out about her battle with Lupus and the many treatments she has been going through, including chemotherapy. This certainly took a toll on her career since she was feeling weak and unmotivated to make music. However, Selena is a fighter and has been working on an album throughout all of this. When rumors started about her dealing with a drug addiction, she felt the need to clear the air. “I wanted so badly to say, ‘You guys have no idea. I’m in chemotherapy. You’re assholes.’ I locked myself away until I was confident and comfortable again,” (mtv.com).
Cara Delevingne is making her way from the modeling world and onto the big screens with her acting debut in Paper Towns. However, in August, she expressed her reasons for leaving her modeling career behind and it was clear there was more to the decision than we knew about. “Modeling just made me feel a bit hollow after a while. It didn’t make me grow as a human being,” (mic.com). Cara was suffering with psoriasis at the time, which was caused by her stress from the modeling world. Because of her condition, people treated her differently and it led to her having self image issues. She decided it was in her best interest to leave this part of her life behind and move forward.
In 2011, Demi Lovato opened up about her time spent in rehab undergoing treatments for her eating disorder and self injury. Her honesty inspired young people in the same position to seek out help. However, it wasn’t until last year that Demi shared that by trying to overcome her eating disorder, she fell into a different kind of unhealthy habit by binging on food instead. “I was done being afraid of food and so tired of overeating and not knowing why I did it. Now I’m on a structured meal plan,” (etonline.com). She said that her obsession with food almost put her back into rehab. This is an issue a lot of people recovering from eating disorders face and by sharing this with the press, Demi proved it can still be beaten with the help of professionals.
These three women are so brave for sharing the deepest darkest parts of their lives they were once afraid to let come to the surface. Their fearlessness has made them role models to impressionable youth and their messages are so important. Anyone who looks up to them and can relate can learn from their experiences and apply it to their own lives. Although constantly being followed by media sources can be inconvenient for them, it also allows them to get share the things they’ve learned with people around the world and impact many lives for the better.