Kelly Ripa opens up about her mental health struggles in her new book, Live Wire: Long-Wided Short Stories.
Kelly Ripa says she struggled with anxiety throughout her adult life.
Life! Kelly and Ryan, 51, co-host the show known for their passionate on-screen personalities, but in excerpts from her new book Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories, she details her mental health struggles and how they affect her every day. her life
In the book, Ripa recalls seeking therapy after believing she had depression, but her therapist suggested her job was making her “unhappy” at the time.
Ripa told her therapist, “I have difficulty getting out of bed in the morning. I almost always wake up crying when I think about going to work. I feel like I’m in physical pain. My hair hurts. I have no energy. My kids i feel like i forgot something at work and when i’m working i feel like I forgot to do something for my kids. Crying in the bathroom, I cry myself to sleep; I cry backstage; I sometimes want to cry in the middle of the show. Sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe.”
In this week’s news cover story, Ripa explains how much therapy has helped her, particularly in dealing with the years of anxiety she describes in her book.
“I have learned that a certain narcissism is necessary for survival, a healthy narcissism. And I thought, what does that mean? It’s an oxymoron,” he told news. “And [my therapist] said that’s not the case. Healthy narcissism allows you to live, make safe decisions, breathe, and so on. And he said that’s a good thing. But to think that you can fix things yourself, that’s where it gets even more difficult. Inside, you’re not that important.”