Former Destiny’s Child member Michelle Williams is opening up about her struggles with depression since she was a young teen.
While guest co-hosting The Talk on Wednesday, the singer, 37, revealed she was suicidal while sitting at the top of the charts with the rest of the girl group, which included Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland.
“I’m in one of the top-selling female groups of all time, suffering with depression,” she said on the show. “When I disclosed it to our manager [Mathew Knowles] at the time, bless his heart, he was like, ‘You all just signed a multi-million dollar deal. You’re about to go on tour. What do you have to be depressed about?'” she recalled Beyoncé’s dad telling her at the time.
“So I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I’m just tired,'” she continued. However, Williams’ depression only continued to get worse “to the point where I was suicidal … and wanted out” from the group.
The star says she has struggled with depression since she was 13 years old, and it wasn’t until she was in her 30s that she realized what she was suffering from.
“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,'” she said.
After her episode of The Talk aired on Wednesday, Williams thanked the show for “being a safe place” to discuss her story. “Don’t be afraid to reach out for help!” she tweeted her fans.