Gabrielle Union has admitted recently that while she occasionally smiles and looks cheerful on the red carpet, she sometimes feels a little less at peace on the inside. The actress has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and panic attacks for the past 30 years as a result of having been the victim of sexual assault.
The 49-year-old shared in a new Instagram post how her anxiety affects her daily life and made a point to support other people who have PTSD. She labelled herself, “me,” the paparazzi, “my triggers,” and her husband Dwayne Wade approaching from behind, “my anxieties,” using the video to illustrate how the panic can be all-consuming.
- Gabrielle Union shared a raw video picturing how it feels to live with PTSD and anxiety as a rape survivor.
- “There’s times the anxiety is so bad it shrinks my life,” she wrote.
- Fans and followers rallied around the actress in support.
“Living with anxiety and panic attacks all these years has never been easy,” the caption said. There are moments when my life is severely limited by anxiety. My excitement for a party or enjoyable occasion, such as the Met Ball, can be turned into absolute anguish by anxiety.
With that, she urged her followers to show her and other sufferers compassion and support even if they were unable to connect. Please trust us when we first tell you about what we are going through, Union pleaded in his letter. “No, anxiety is not like being nervous, and it’s OK that everyone cope with it in their own unique way. You don’t have to attempt to “fix” me. I publish this in the hopes that everyone who has anxiety will understand they are not alone or “being extra.” There is so much love for you, and I see you and feel you. Always. nice individuals with love and light. Be kind to one another outside.
Gabrielle is adamant about using her prominence to de-stigmatize her experience. She revealed the moment she decided to come out while lying on a Payless Shoes floor following her assault in a press Q&A for her film The Birth of a Nation in 2016. She said, “I made a decision never again.” “I made the decision to use my popularity and position to talk about the atrocities of sexual violence and what it does to your soul, mind, sanity, family, and relationships,” she said.
In collaboration with the Child Mind Institute, she produced a video in 2019 that spoke to survivors. She declared, “I’m here to let you know that I am a PTSD survivor, thriver, and badass MFer. It doesn’t have to define my entire life; I didn’t want it to. It does not make you weaker or less deserving of love, support, or achievement to ask for aid or to require it.
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