Wil Wheaton Opens Up About Depression In Emotional Instagram Video

This is really brave.
Wil Wheaton could have quietly hidden his suffering, but he chose to open up about the depression he was feeling to help normalize it — something we could not appreciate more!
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The Star Trek alum took to Instagram Wednesday night to show fans what was really going on behind his smiling face, saying in his selfie vid:

“Hey everybody. I wanna show you something. This… this is my face. It’s also what depression looks like.”

He explained how depression hits people even when they’re surrounded by success:

“I’m having a real hard day. There’s a lot of great things in my life right now, and it does not make sense at all at a time when there’s so much good in my life I would feel so profoundly bad — that I would be hurting so much — that every second of today has been a struggle.”

So thankful for this, Wil!
See his whole powerful post (below):

View this post on Instagram

This is what #depression looks like. If I didn't tell you, you probably wouldn't know, but I'm hurting a LOT today, and it really sucks. As I said in my video, I'm using myself as an example for everyone out there who, like me, lives with mental illness, and feels alone. You are not alone. WE are not alone. I'm grieving, I'm worried about a person I care deeply for and can not reach, and I feel so overwhelmed, I have just wanted to go back to bed all day. Depression doesn't care who you are, what you look like, how much money you make, or what else is going on in your life. When it decides to kick you in the nuts, it wears steel toe boots, and it hurts and it sucks. But we aren't alone and we aren't weak. We are just living with an illness that we can not control, but doesn't have to control us. I'm posting this for a lot of reasons, but one of them is to kick depression back in its own nuts, and remind all of is that we are stronger than we think, and to encourage the people who are close to us to remember to be gentle with us, because it isn't always obvious that we are struggling. If you or someone you love lives with depression or another mental illness, please remember that you are not alone. You can find help online at NAMI.org, or through your healthcare provider. This will pass. This is not forever. It hurts and it sucks but it is not forever.

A post shared by Wil Wheaton (@itswilwheaton) on Jan 16, 2019 at 5:43pm PST