On countless occasions we envy, wish or yearn for the way of life of those who have been successful worldwide. We are talking about celebrities or showbiz stars; whether in the sports, audiovisual or artistic sectors, there is a mantra that is often not fulfilled, and that is the one that proclaims that celebrities do not have problems.

In the last decades we have had the opportunity to discover that not all happiness and red carpets are for this collective. The suicide of some Hollywood characters or singer-songwriters reveals a worrying trend. That’s why it’s good to get to know some examples of celebrities who have suffered from depression at some point in their lives to see to what extent money isn’t everything.

Celebrities who have suffered from depression

We will see cases of celebrities who have gone through a process of depression. Of course, the causes of this experience depend on the particularities of each one of their lives, but in general we can see how beyond the objective elements that we usually associate with happiness, such as money and fame, there are many other elements that matter.

1. Jim Carrey

Sonado is the case of the actor who made us laugh until we cried. For some years now, he has been seen on television sets with a somewhat melancholy and saddened attitude . He suffered the failure of two love affairs. In the last one, his partner died because of an illness. At present, the actor of "the mask" claims not to be in earthly life.

2. Heath Ledger

Many of us remember the tragic outcome of this famous actor who gave us hope for the new character of the Joker in the saga of Christopher Nolan’s Batman. The premiere of Dark Knight , took place in parallel with the news of the suicide of its star actor. Heath had been suffering for a long time from depression. It is hypothesized that it may have been helped in part by the stress of his job, as well as by family problems.

3. Britney Spears

The American singer, famous for her early-millennium hits, has also suffered from depression. She became so famous that she was unable to handle it. The debacle came at the time she became a mother. She fell into drugs , something common among people with depression, and her public appearances began to be a scandal. She even shaved her head and walked around California half-naked.

4. Robin Williams

Another famous person who apparently should have been forbidden to be sad. His most famous films are comical, and always in charge of making half the world laugh. He committed suicide at the age of 63, in 2014, for no apparent reason. After a few months, it became known that he was going through a period of depression that led him to drugs and alcohol.

5. Jean Claude Van Damme

Due to a complicated childhood , the Belgian actor suffered from severe stages of depression. This is what motivated him to train and professionalize in the world of martial arts, which led him to Hollywood. At that stage of his life, the fame gained by his flying kicks and impossible jumps did not allow him to have a fully happy life. In fact, for a few years now, he has been diagnosed with severe depression, and is regularly medicated.

6. Mel Gibson

Braveheart , Lethal Weapon , Payback . Mel Gibson always did the tough, brave, cheeky type. Besides, he has made controversial public appearances where he is seen in a state of drunkenness and under the influence of cocaine, confronting the police on several occasions.

7. O.J. Simpson

It’s perhaps the most peculiar case in the whole list. The American football player, Orenthal James Simpson, killed his wife in a jealous rage in the early 1990s. The hilarious trial acquitted him in the first instance, finding him innocent. Years later, they would find evidence of his authority in the murder.

The player went through a period of depression after retiring from the sport, although the fact that he murdered his wife is not an irremediable product of this situation. Violence is not considered something that depression leads to naturally and irremediably, as long as it is not the result of hallucinations (in psychotic depression). Of course, social and cultural elements also had to play a very important role in this murder.

8. Halle Berry

The famous actress suffered a severe period of depression in the late 1990s. The divorce from her first husband, as well as the mistreatment she suffered, were traumatic episodes for the promising artist who, despite the success she was already achieving, was forced to face a hard setback on a personal level. She attempted suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide locked in her car.

9. Michael Jackson

The King of Pop was not free from this problem. He reached unsuspected heights of popularity, he was a pioneer in the world of music for his choreography, his video clip formats, and his style. All this was not enough to avoid periods of depression as his daughter declared, to the point that there is speculation that his death was due to an overdose of anxiolytic drugs.

10. Kurt Cobain

The case of Kurt Cobain was another of the tragedies favoured by this psychopathology . At the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, the Nirvana group, led by Kurt Cobain, was breaking the lists of successes worldwide. But the moment the band’s leader stopped being interested in music, he plunged into a hard phase of depression that led him to commit suicide with a shotgun.