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Chappell Roan Reflects on Her Mental-Health Struggles

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Photo: MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images

In the past few months, Chappell Roan has been increasingly vocal about the toll her rapid rise to fame has taken on her. In June, at a concert in Raleigh, North Carolina, she teared up while telling the crowd she felt “a little off today.” More recently, she called out fan harassment in a series of TikToks: “I don’t care that this crazy type of behavior comes along with the job, the career field I’ve chosen. That does not make it okay; that does not make it normal.”

On Tuesday, in a wide-ranging Rolling Stone cover story, she opened up about her mental health, sharing that she had been diagnosed with bipolar II disorder in 2020, right after her label, Atlantic, initially dropped her. While relaunching her career by posting on TikTok, she also realized she was suffering from hypomania. “I wasn’t sleeping,” she said. “I was on the incorrect meds. I had the energy and the delusion and realized that this app is fueled off of mental illness. Straight up.” In 2022, Roan said she went to outpatient therapy and experienced suicidal thoughts. She opened for Olivia Rodrigo on the Sour tour that May and then immediately returned to treatment.

Roan also gave context for her reaction to the Raleigh concert. “I was trying so hard to do the theater-kid thing and just be like, ‘Push through! Be the character!’” she says. “I was worried of letting people down after they’ve seen these videos of me fucking serving. I wasn’t serving that day, and I had to be honest.” Because of a stalker, she has had to hire security, which she calls “so lame.” She posted her TikTok statements after her dad’s phone number was leaked online.

Roan said other notable musicians have reached out to offer support, including Billie Eilish, Charli XCX, Lorde, and Mitski, who emailed her to say, “I just wanted to humbly welcome you to the shittiest exclusive club in the world, the club where strangers think you belong to them and they find and harass your family members.” Roan added, “Everyone is uncomfortable with fans. Some people just have more patience. I fucking don’t.”

Chappell Roan Reflects on Her Mental-Health Struggles