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Fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and Jada Pinkett Smith would agree. She recently opened up on an episode of Red Table Talk about mental health and her suicidal past when she was coming up in the industry.

“I had an emotional breakdown that definitely, I feel like, affected my mental stability. I had gotten to LA and gotten a certain amount of success and realized that that wasn’t the answer. It wasn’t what was going to make everything okay. [It] actually made this worse. I was extremely suicidal, I had a complete emotional collapse.”

The actress goes on to say that she didn’t understand what she was experiencing at the time: “It’s like when you just don’t have control over emotions, your thoughts, you feel completely and utterly out of control. I don’t even think at that particular time I understood what I was going through. Now I know that it’s what people would consider a nervous breakdown.”

Jada admits she struggled with depression, coupled with guilt and shame, for years. The “Girls Trip” star said she took Prozac to help with her mental state until the side effects kicked in. She also confirms she no longer suffers from depression and had to uproot some “false beliefs” to get through it: “I had to just let go and just come to terms with just what life is.”

INGLEWOOD, CA – DECEMBER 01: Actress Jada Pinkett Smith arrives at 102.7 KIIS FM’s Jingle Ball 2017 at The Forum on December 1, 2017 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/WireImage)

“What I eat, what I watch on TV, what music I listen to, how I care for my body, my spiritual practice, what people I surround myself with, the amount of stress I allow and so on…either contribute to or deteriorate my mental health. Mental health is a daily practice for me. It’s a practice of deep self-love.”

Over the past few years, especially in the Black community, a lot of celebrities and public figures have been opening up about their experiences with mental health. In this year alone, Kid Cudi, who joined Jada on this episode, Charlamagne tha GodKanye West, and Michelle Williams have been transparent about what they’ve faced.

The talk show co-host recently reached out to comedian, Pete Davidson via Twitter to let him know that he isn’t alone in this. Davidson posted a note to his now-deactivated Instagram account which suggested he no longer desired to live: “I really don’t want to be on this earth anymore. I’m doing my best to stay here for you but I actually don’t know how much longer I can last. All I’ve ever tried to do was help people. Just remember I told you so.”

Jada has been so open about a lot on Red Table Talk, and it looks like she will continue to be real and raw. Along with her mother, Adrienne Banfield Norris and daughter, Willow Smith, they’ve tackled marriage rumors with her husband, Will Smith, dating Alphonso Ribeiro, blended families, interracial relationships, and so much more!

TELL US: Do you think more celebrities should open up about their mental health struggles?

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