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07th Sep 2015
Even those who seem to be the most confident and self-assured with the most ideal life imaginable can be struck down with a crippling onset of anxiety. Reality star Kylie Jenner is the latest to speak out about how her anxiety sufferings have debilitated her confidence in many ways and took to Instagram to post some powerful words on the subject.
In an emotive post, Jenner was sharing details of the inspirational story of Lizzie Velasquez, who suffers from a rare congenital disease resulting in her being unable to accumulate any body fat, before she shared her own experiences of being bullied. “People are so quick to say horrible things about me every day over and over, and sometimes I can’t take it. Even I at times get affected by it, I breakdown, I hide, I cry,” she said in the post.
Jenner said it was this bullying that led to her anxiety attacks, and feeling like she “lost part of herself” as a result. “It’s [the bullying] resulted in a lot of anxiety for me that I’ve never had to deal with before ever. My every move has been documented for the whole world and it’s been a nightmare trying to find myself through all of this. And I’ve absolutely lost a part of myself.”
She finished the post with some admirable words to Velasquez, who she obviously empathises with. Jenner’s decision to speak publicly about this follows similar outpourings from Lena Durham, Emma Stone, Bressie and Amanda Seyfried, who together are all raising more awareness on the issue. Though many will no doubt criticise and label the 18-year-old as “attention seeking” or whatever else, it takes guts to speak out about an issue that can have such a dramatic and lasting effect on a person’s health, both mentally and physically. Quite a few are quick to forget that Jenner has spent her most turbulent teenage years in front of a camera, and while this was a choice she made, few could have predicted the levels of fame the Kardashian/Jenner clan would reach. Having ones every move constantly critiqued by the masses has to be difficult for anyone to deal with, even if they knowingly put themselves into that situation. Lest we forget, that amid the controversy of Jenner’s infamous lip filler incident was the reality of a 17-year-old girl feeling so self-conscious about her looks that she resorted to cosmetic surgery to drastically change her appearance (she looks completely different in comparison to a few years back).
Regardless, she has done a brave thing by speaking out, and should be commended for that.