Hunter Boyce | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS)
Chappell Roan has gone public about her battles with bipolar II disorder. From an exhausting bout of hypomania to a planned suicide, the TikTok influencer turned pop star told Rolling Stone all about the struggles she’s faced. During her rise to fame, she had to rise above.
The Missouri native, 26, was diagnosed four years ago. In 2020, her fans were already well familiar with her first single “Good Hurt.” “Pink Pony Club” had taken the internet by storm. But four months later, her label Atlantic Records dropped her. Cut off, she fell short of taking her music mainstream.
After receiving her diagnosis that year, the Billboard Hot 100 hit maker ended a four-year relationship and moved back to her home town of Willard, Missouri. She was on a mission to rediscover herself and reconcile with her difficult childhood. To start the healing, her family entered therapy together.
“It saved us,” she told Rolling Stone’s Brittany Spanos. “I was like, ‘I can’t go my whole life hating my parents for not knowing how to handle a really, really sick child.’ I was just miserable.”
More than 20% of adults in the United States live with a mental illness, and millions suffer from bipolar disorder. The condition causes unusual shifts in mood swings, concentration and energy levels.
Bouts of depression, episodes of hypomania — bipolar II disorder comes with a cost. And for many, it can feel like too much to pay. As many as 60% of those affected attempt suicide. And a 2023 study discovered that being diagnosed with bipolar disorder puts a person at a far greater risk of premature death than smoking.
In the summer of 2021, Roan’s greatest mental health challenge to date was creeping out of the dark.
Working at a drive-through, as a part-time nanny and a production assistant, she spent 2020 picking up the pieces. The following year began as a fruitful one. She and her longtime songwriter, record producer Daniel Nigro had reconnected. At the time, Dan Nigro had made it big with another pop star, Olivia Rodrigo. The two began rekindling her music career by working on her first songs as an independent artist.
Roan moved back to L.A. in 2021 and got to work. “Naked in Manhattan” and “My Kink Is Karma” soon followed, but something else was also on the rise. When not working on her music, Roan was cultivating a massive TikTok following through jokes, memes and more. Hypomania — a period of extreme mood swings and hyperactivity — had taken hold.
“I started gaining a lot of followers when I was being really insane on TikTok,” she said.
“I wasn’t sleeping,” Roan continued. “I was on the incorrect meds. I had the energy and the delusion and realized that this app is fueled off of mental illness. Straight up.”
Something much darker was also rising to the surface. Having planned how she would do it for the first time, her suicidal thoughts had reached a near breaking point. That’s when she entered outpatient therapy.
“I realized I can’t live like this,” she explained. “I can’t live being so depressed or feel so lost that I want to kill myself. I just got my s— together.”
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Had she reached that dark place during the height of her fame — the last couple years — the pop star feared the worst would have happened.
“I would not have been able to handle any of this even a year ago today,” Roan continued. “It would’ve just been too much.”
But she prevailed. By the end of 2022, she had debuted her first album and sold out a headlining tour. And she’s faced more mental battles since, including an expletive-filled confrontation at last week’s MTV Video Music Awards. But the pop star continues to storm the charts.
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