Michelle Williams Gets Candid on Battle with Depression, Suicidal Thoughts

The singer says it wasn’t until her 30s that she understood what was going on.

By Doug Lazy on October 19, 2017

By Annie Reuter

Former Destiny’s Child member Michelle Williams spoke candidly about suffering from depression at the height of the group’s fame during an appearance on The Talk on Wednesday of this week (Oct. 18).

Related: Destiny’s Child Reunited at a Party and Here’s the Photo

“I think at the age of 25, had I had a name to what I was feeling at the time, I would have disclosed that I’ve been suffering from depression,” said the singer.  “At that age, I didn’t know what to call it.”

“For years, I’m in one of the top-selling female groups of all time, suffering with depression,” she continued. “When I disclosed it to our manager at the time, bless his heart, he was like, ‘Y’all just signed a multi-million dollar deal and you’re about to go on tour. What do you have to be depressed about?’ So I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I’m just tired.'”

“I was suicidal,” Williams admitted. “I was to that place where it got so dark and heavy because sometimes you feel like, ‘I’m the provider, I take care of people. I’m not supposed to be feeling this way. What do I do?’ And I wanted out.”

These days, Williams is doing better and says she has released those thoughts, “I want to normalize this conversation,” she said. The singer also praised Demi Lovato, who speaks candidly about her own struggles with depression in her recently released documentary Simply Complicated.

See the full conversation below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHYNSaW6Ttw&w=555&h=312]