Holding nothing back. After rocketing to fame as a teenager, Shawn Mendes has been open about the impact that fame has had on his mental health over the years.
“I’m so grateful. I love these performances. I’ve never had more fun in my life,” the “Stitches” singer confessed during his November 2020 Netflix documentary, Shawn Mendes: In Wonder, when talking about life as a successful musician. “But at the same time, I just want to hang with my parents and watch movies, drive around a suburb and lay on a soccer field and, you know, smoke a joint and stare at stars with my friends and, like, eat some beef jerky. … I miss that right now. It’s pretty intense all the time.”
Two years later, Mendes once again opened up about the overwhelming nature of his career in a candid social media post about embracing his true self. “The truth, in current form is a 23 year old who constantly feels like he’s either flying or drowning. Maybe that’s just what it is to be in your 20’s idk, or maybe that’s just me,” the “Treat You Better” musician wrote in April. “The truth is I really do wanna show up in the world as my 100% true honest unique self and not care what anyone thinks, sometimes I do!! Sometimes I really don’t care what people think and I feel free. Most of the time its [sic] a struggle [though]. That’s the truth.”
He continued: “The truth is even with so much success I still find it hard to feel like I’m not failing. [I’m] hyper focused on what I don’t have, forgetting to see all that I do. The truth is I’m overwhelmed and overstimulated lol.”
When some fans expressed concern over his message, Mendes made it clear that he just wanted to be honest with his fans so that they’d feel less alone. “I’m honestly so okay! I just wanna communicate with you guys in a real honest way. so I just typed I big old note out for you lol,” he wrote at the time.
In July 2022, however, Mendes revealed that he needed to postpone several of his tour dates in order to look after his mental health. I’ve been touring since I was 15 and to be honest it’s always been difficult to be on the road away from friends and family,” he wrote via Instagram. “After a few years off the road, I felt like I was ready to dive back in, but that decision was premature and unfortunately the toll of the road and the pressure has caught up to me and I’ve hit a breaking point.”
The Canada native added: “After speaking with my team and health professionals, I need to take some time to heal and take care of myself and my mental health, first and foremost. As soon as there are more updates I promise I will let you know love you guys.”
Keep scrolling to learn more about Mendes’ mental health journey in his own words:
