LeAnn Rimes wants to "take away the shame" associated with mental health.
The 37-year-old singer has opened up on her battle with depression and anxiety, and says that facing her "pain" helped her process how she was feeling, rather than "getting lost" in her emotions.
She said: "At first I didn’t want to face my pain because I thought I would get lost in it. But I didn’t. People are so ashamed to talk about it and ask for help. But taking away the shame is so important."
LeAnn became a child star in her teens, and has admitted she was struggling with "emptiness and sadness" behind the scenes.
She added: "There was so much emptiness and sadness amidst joy. And I had to be LeAnn Rimes, the entity, not LeAnn Rimes, the person. I was very fragmented."
The ‘How Do I Live’ hitmaker says things reached breaking point in 2010, following her divorce from Dean Sheremet and her affair with now-husband Eddie Cibrian.
She explained: "There was something in the press every week that was just so fabricated. Obviously there are mistakes that I take great responsibility for. But my whole life I had cared what everyone thought of me. So the public shaming was a deep thing that I took on. I had so much underlying grief. Everything accumulated and I had to give in."
After her 30th birthday, LeAnn entered a treatment facility to help combat her mental health struggle, and says she now focuses on maintaining her "self-worth".
Speaking to People magazine as part of their Let’s Talk About It mental health initiative, she said: "It was the first night I was ever alone, ever. There was a lot of co-dependency. And a lot of healing that needed to be done.
"I know who I am now. And I try to keep things in perspective. The need for others’ approval has changed big-time. Self-worth is key."
LeAnn Rimes wants to end stigma around mental health
