Tyrese has been displaying his emotional outbursts online. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Tyrese Gibson is coming clean about why he has been acting out on social media. The singer/actor explained his Instagram rants and tearful pleas were the results of the effects of a drug prescribed to him by a psychiatrist.
“I just wanted to formally apologize to all of my fans, my wife, my friends, my loved ones and everyone that’s gotten a million phone calls after what I now know was [the result] some psychiatric meds called Rexulti,” he said in a Saturday, Nov. 11 Instagram video. “So have I been stressed about losing my daughter? Yes.
“But after seeing several psychiatrists and therapists trying to help me out, one of the psychiatrists suggested some medicine, and it really f—ed me up in a real way. … If you know me the way I know you do, you know that something had to be wrong and I was not in my normal mind state.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbXrBRfHVG1/?taken-by=tyrese
Despite the fact that Rexalti is used as an add-on treatment for major depressive disorder — according to its website — Gibson maintained in the Instagram post that he does not have a mental illness. Rather, the drug was prescribed for him to deal with the “trauma of losing my daughter this way.” He lost his daughter through a restraining order his ex-wife Norma Mitchell Gibson issued against him. The two have been battling over custody of their 10-year-old daughter, Shayla.
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“[It] had an adverse effect on me and this is the reason I had a complete meltdown online — I’m in the clear now,” Gibson said in a separate post. “This is being flushed out of my system and I’m [all ready] to get back at 100 percent.”
Although some have mocked Tyrese’s public displays, Marietta, Ga., psychiatrist Dr. Adaku Njoku-Animashaun, who has not treated Gibson, says she’s thankful for his openness about getting help.
“I’m thankful that at least he’s talking about it so people can get help and make better choices for [their] lives,” she told Atlanta Black Star. “Most people are very fearful of stigma. There’s [sic] so many people that don’t get medical help for problems they’re dealing with.”
“In our culture, most people don’t want to be open,” she added. “We’re very fearful but as a psychiatrist, [I see mental illness] is real.”
And while Gibson says he isn’t suffering from depression, his candidness about seeking professional help for his state of mind highlights a growing trend of celebrities being open about mental health.
In October, singer Michelle Williams said she had struggled with depression when Destiny’s Child was in its prime.
“I’m in one of the top-selling female groups of all time, suffering with depression,” Williams told the hosts of “The Talk”. “And when I disclosed it to our manager, [Mathew Knowles] at the time, bless his heart, he was like, ‘You all just signed a multimillion-dollar deal. You’re about to go on tour. What do you have to be depressed about?’ So I was like, ‘Oh! Maybe I’m just tired.’”
Dr. Njoku-Animashaun said while many people have “different challenges,” they don’t have to face them alone. “There are people out there who want to help you.”
