Gabrielle Union has opened up about her battle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Gabrielle Union
The 45-year-old actress has revealed she was diagnosed with PTSD - which is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events - when she was just 19 after having been "raped at gunpoint", and has said that she now refuses to let the disorder define her.
Speaking in a video as part of the Child Mind Institute's #MyYoungerSelf campaign - in which stars share messages with their younger selves in the hope to end the stigma attached to mental health and learning disorders - the 'Being Mary Jane' star said: "I'm here to tell you that I am a PTSD survivor, thriver, bad ass, MF-er. I was diagnosed with PTSD at 19 after I was raped at gunpoint and I didn't let it stop me. I didn't want it to define my whole life and it doesn't have to. Asking for help, needing help doesn't make you weak or less worthy of love or support or success. You can literally be anything you want to be. PTSD isn't a death sentence."
The Child Mind Institute's campaign features over 30 actors, Olympians, authors, comedians, and other influencers in the hopes of showing children and adolescents who struggle that there is a bright future ahead if they open up and ask for help.
Gabrielle added in her video, which was obtained by E! News: "You don't have to be alone or feel isolated. There are so many of us out there who are dealing with exactly what you are dealing with and it doesn't make you weak. It doesn't make you anything but human. And we all have something and you might even become a successful actress and best-selling author and be dope because that's what you deserve."
The 'Breaking In' star's PTSD confession comes after she revealed her horrific rape ordeal in her book 'We're Going To Need More Wine', and said she found it "therapeutic" to get her feelings down on paper.
She said previously: "Writing my book, 'We're Going to Need More Wine', was therapeutic ... whether I was talking about sexual assault, failed marriages or finding joy in being my authentic self. Acknowledging you're in pain is the first step, and then seeking help. The online community is full of people going through the exact same thing you are."
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