Beverley Callard has expressed her fear that celebrities are beginning to promote mental health issues as “fashionable” like a “Gucci handbag.”
The actress, who is known for her role as Liz McDonald on Coronation Street, has previously discussed her own battle with depression and the importance of breaking down the stigma of mental health.
However, in a new interview with Best magazine, as reported by The Sun, Callard discussed the recent trend of other influential people sharing their experiences with mental health issues - and her worry that mental illnesses may be seen as trendy.
“Real mental illness is very dark and it takes a great deal of strength to ask for help,” she said. “I think we are now definitely chipping away at the stigma.
“But we have to be careful mental illness doesn’t become like a Gucci handbag. There is a danger it can become ‘fashionable.’”
According to Callard, her own struggles plunged her into a “black hole” three years ago - after an outfit she was asked to wear on the ITV show which made her feel “idiotic.”
Rather than being able to ask for help, the star found herself in bed for four days, unable to speak to anyone.
Once she began getting help from a professional, Callard was able to return to work - but she still recalls how she originally wanted to keep her mental health a secret.
Callard, who is now an ambassador for the mental health charity Mind, told the magazine: “In the beginning I didn’t want to talk about my depression. But I also wanted to be up front and honest” - and that “there are thousands going through exactly what you are.”
In the UK, approximately one in four people will experience a mental health problem each year, according to Mind, and in England, one in six people report experiencing a common mental health problem such as anxiety in any given week.
