Kelly Clarkson, 38, opened up about her struggle with depression in a conversation with singer Demi Lovato, 27. The pair caught up via video chat during a recent episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, and they got very candid. “I love how open you are about mental health because I have similar issues, and I suffer from depression,” Kelly began. “I think a lot of people, especially in the creative world or just from childhood even, [are] kind of trained to just keep going and ‘you can handle it,’ especially as a woman it’s like, ‘Don’t let them see you sweat.'”
The former Disney star was quick to gush over the the American Idol alum, calling her “courageous” and “genuine,” too. “You were, like, the first idol that I ever had, and I wouldn’t be the artist or even the person that I am with being so outspoken, and vulnerable, and fearless if I hadn’t had you to look up to,” Demi said. The talk show host then admitted that her mental health journey and positive attitude “takes work”. She told Demi, “Even when you overcome something, they’re like, ‘OK, she’s already overcome it.’ I’m like, ‘No, no that’s a daily effort in, like, trying to be positive….That’s not, like, a given. Like, you’re just over it, and you went to some magical therapy session, and it’s over.”
The pair also discussed the Black Lives Matter movement, as protests and outcry continue sweeping the nation. “I think the first step is educating ourselves,” Demi began. “We have a lot of time on our hands right now. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be watching these movies and absorbing all the information that we possibly can about what’s going on in the world. And then, from there, we’ve seen it all over the media that being silent and being not racist is not enough anymore.”
The former Camp Rock actress then recalled a post she shared in May following the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery and his tragic death at the hands of police. “I saw online what had happened, and I felt like this overwhelming sense of, like, frustration [and] anger,” she said. “I was, like, crying and I started writing in my phone. I just got out all of my emotions, and I felt guilty that I hadn’t been doing more and saying more as an ally. But I was also afraid that people were going to come at me….Because everybody’s angry right now, and I didn’t want anyone to think I had the wrong intentions or that I was uneducated [or] speaking about something I didn’t know about. That was a fear of mine.”