Being a member of one of the most successful girl groups in history does not mean you cannot suffer depression. Michelle Williams from Destiny’s Child recently opened up to talk about how even at the height of her success she felt like she “wanted out” from life. Speaking on The Talk, the singer explained how she had battled with her mental health issues throughout her teenage years before joining the group and only realised later what she had been suffering with. 

“It got really really bad... I was suicidal,” she said. “I was in 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?’ I wanted out.”

Depression was such a misunderstood topic in the 00s that when she confided in her former band manager Matthew Knowles, also Beyoncé’s father, he didn’t grasp the severity of her illness. She alleges he said: “You're about to go on tour you just signed a multi-million contract, you’re about to go on tour, what do you have to be depressed about?”

Williams who has since ventured into gospel music said that she just “went to church, prayed about it and then swept it under the rug for quite some time”. However, she is now keen to normalise the mental health discussion.