Tamar Braxton has called for people to "normalise" acknowledging mental health struggles after she was hospitalised for a suspected overdose.
The 43-year-old singer was rushed to hospital earlier this month after she was found unresponsive by her boyfriend David Adefeso at the Ritz-Carlton Residences at LA Live in Los Angeles.
And two weeks after her hospitalisation – which saw her transferred to a separate hospital with mental health specialists – Tamar has now broken her silence in a lengthy Instagram post.
Tamar began by thanking those who have supported her since the ordeal by writing: "Thank you to each and every individual who has prayed for me, thought of me, sent me their love and has showered me with their support. In this present moment, it is my only responsibility to be real with myself and to be real with the ones who truly love me and care for my healing. I have without fail, shared with you my brightest days, and I know that sharing with you what has been my darkest will be the light for any man or woman who is feeling the same defeat I felt just only a week ago."
The singer went on to explain why her mental health had been suffering, as she said she had been "taken advantage of, overworked, and underpaid" in her career for over a decade.
She added: Over the past 11 years there were promises made to protect and portray my story, with the authenticity and honesty I gave. I was betrayed, taken advantage of, overworked, and underpaid. I wrote a letter over 2 months ago asking to be freed from what I believed was excessive and unfair. I explained in personal detail the demise I was experiencing. My cry for help went totally ignored. However the demands persisted. It was my spirit, and my soul that was tainted the most. There are a few things I count on most to be, a good mother, a good daughter, a good partner, a good sister, and a good person. Who I was, begun to mean little to nothing, because it would only be how I was portrayed on television that would matter. It was witnessing the slow death of the woman I became, that discouraged my will to fight. I felt like I was no longer living, I was existing for the purpose of a corporations gain and ratings, and that killed me."
And Tamar closed her post by urging people to "stop associating" mental illness with "shame and humiliation".
She wrote: "Mental illness is real. We have to normalize acknowledging it and stop associating it with shame and humiliation. The pain that I have experienced over the past 11 years has slowly ate away at my spirit and my mental."
The ‘Braxton Family Values’ star was admitted to hospital on July 16 after her boyfriend David called 911 and said he believed Tamar had been drinking and taking prescription pills.
A representative for Tamar said at the time: "Tamar has had a very tough and emotional day. More information will be coming in the next few days. Please pray for her."