Jojo doesn’t want to “hold back” when it comes to discussing mental health.
The ‘Leave (Get Out)’ hitmaker – whose real name is Joanna Levesque – has insisted she has “never felt ashamed” about talking about her mental health, and thinks it’s worse to try and ignore her feelings instead of just being honest.
She said: "I never felt ashamed. It was so common, at least in my family and people that I had really close dealings with. It felt like a very natural progression to talk to my fans about it — it wasn't something that I've necessarily wrestled with. It felt more burdensome to hold something like that back than to share it."
Jojo, 30, also said she used to just try and “push through” things without talking about them, but soon realised that was “making it worse”.
So instead, the singer has been channelling her emotions into her music.
She added: "I realised that I was trying to just push through and not think about the things that were eating me up, thinking about my concerns for my family, my fears, the state of the world, my personal accountability.
“All these things, I try not to think about them. But I realised that was probably making it worse. So then through writing, not only for the albums but journaling and starting to talk to my therapist again. That's where all these songs came from."
The ‘Creature of Habit’ singer takes antidepressants to help her cope with her mental health, and is trying to deal with each day as it comes.
She told Verywell Mind: "I've just been trying to deal day by day. To be honest with you, one of the things that I did — I judged myself a little bit for this, but I got back on antidepressants. I wanted to believe that I could clean up my diet, and get out in the sun, and write in my journal, and meditate and do yoga and just be okay. But I needed a little lift.
"I needed a little help. And I'm not ashamed that I did that. It was an important turning point for me."
