Gabrielle Union experienced suicidal ideation last year.
Gabrielle Union
The 48-year-old actress and presenter - who is married to basketball star Dwayne Wade - revealed that many years in therapy helped her to cope when she started struggling with the thoughts after a "stupid argument" with her husband in December.
Gabrielle explained that she has been experiencing the perimenopause -which can cause a wide range of symptoms associated with hormonal disruption - since she was in her 30s but "symptoms reached a fever pitch" last year.
Speaking to Gwyneth Paltrow during the In Goop Health virtual summit, she said: "I thought I was losing my mind. I thought I had early onset dementia, Alzheimer's. I gained 20 pounds overnight of water retention, inflammation, bizarre. I couldn't think. Now, when I have to public speak in the last few months, I'm so anxious, because I'm like, 'Am I going to remember words?'
"I've had more depressive episodes, but never for a long periods of time. Maybe a couple of weeks. I fell into something so dark in December that it scared me. I had a stupid argument with D, and instead of my usual problem-solving...immediately, my brain, that little inner voice said, 'He's never going to get it unless you're dead.' Only because I've been in therapy for half my life that I was like 'No, I don't know who is talking now, it's not my intuition.'
"I was able to get through it with talk therapy and diving into how I can regulate my hormones. Luckily I was at home and I alerted everyone.
"Separating the symptoms from who you really are...to say that it's a challenge, I don't think I really have the words, or I lost them, to describe what these last few months have been."
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