Hayley Williams opens up on past mental health struggles: “It can seem pretty impossible to thrive, holistically, in the modern world”

11 October, 2024

Paramore‘s Hayley Williams has opened up on her past struggles with mental health in a new World Mental Health Day post – see what the singer had to say below.

Yesterday (October 10) marked World Mental Health Day. To commemorate the importance of the day and mental health, Hayley Williams’ cosmetics brand Good Dye Young published a message from the singer, in which she touched on her own struggles in the past and shared important resources for those in need.

Williams wrote in her message: “In 2018, after years of struggling with my mind and some frustrating health issues, I finally got diagnosed with depression and a specific kind of PTSD. Admittedly, I’d been very ignorant about mental illness and just how all-consuming it can be. I didn’t realize it could affect your physical wellbeing too.”

Hayley Williams of Paramore performs onstage in 2024
Hayley Williams of Paramore performs onstage in 2024 (Photo by Gregor Fischer/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management )

She continued: “I’d been told prior by my doctor that I had chronic fatigue but still, I didn’t appreciate how interconnected my mind and body really were. This kind of fatigue is becoming more and more common, by the way. It can seem pretty impossible to thrive, holistically, in the modern world. If I didn’t have access to mental health professionals and functional doctors I may have never learned these things and continued to struggle on my own, without answers. I hate thinking about how many people are stuck without answers or any tangible help.

“Obviously there are little things we can do in the day to day to cheer ourselves up or give ourselves space to really express how we feel and who we are,” she added. “Small wins do help. I’ve always turned to music, dying/changing my hair, some form of community… but sometimes you just need more support than these things can give. There are really good people doing incredible work to make a path to mental wellness more equitable and efficient and I’d live to highlight a few, so that if you feel drawn to any of them, you can reach out.”

She then shared links to Inclusive Therapists, Therapy For Black Girls and The Trevor Project. See the full post below.

This isn’t the first time that Hayley Williams has spoken about mental health. In 2018, the singer published a highly personal essay, where she spoke of her failed relationship with New Found Glory’s Chad Gilbert, the departure of Paramore bassist Jeremy Davis and more.

Later that same year, she shared another post on social media, where she criticised people’s lack of empathy for others who aren’t going through as tough a time as they are: “kinda tired of folks treating mental health as an either/or situation. sometimes you’re just in the grey for a while, making your way to the light. (pls don’t shit on someone else’s journey to a less-dark place).”

In a cover chat with NME last year, Williams spoke about the pressures that women – especially teenage girls – face in the industry: “Oh, my God. I hope no young female experiences the shit that I experienced. When we were teenagers, the way forward was to be tough all the time. Our entire scene was contributing to shitty treatment of women and anything that wasn’t masculine. We were out on Warped Tour, this little Fueled by Ramen band acting like a hardcore band on stage. It was like if I didn’t spit further, I felt like someone was going to throw me out.”

Recently, Williams has revealed Paramore are working on new music, with the singer telling Dork that the band had recorded music in Clouds Hill studio in Hamburg.

She went on to say they had been playing with an idea that “felt like it was on the other side of the tracks to what we’d been working on at home,” according to Williams. “But that excites me.”

The band last released their 2023 album ‘This Is Why’, given four stars by NME: “Paramore are reaching to where, finally, their music has wanted to get to for the best part of the past decade. Rather than try to top their peerless anthems, the band have instead uncovered a new warmth on ‘This Is Why’, and the effect is triumphant indeed.”

In other news, Paramore and Bug Girl have announced a merch collaboration with all proceeds donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians.

For help and advice on mental health:

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