J Balvin Speaks Out About His Mental Health Journey

There is a growing awareness of issues regarding mental health and how devastating they can be. Many celebrities are speaking out about the seriousness of mental health and using their platforms to encourage fans to take it seriously. 

One such celebrity is J Balvin, who has recently been very open about his personal mental health journey and how he never thought the disease would affect him. He spoke about it and his new mental health app during a talk at Wall Street Journal's the Future of Everything Festival (Via People).

He said, "I remember seeing people go to the psychiatric and I would be like, 'Why are they going there? They're crazy.'" Read on to learn more about his mental health journey and how he is bringing awareness to his fans.

Balvin was recently a part of the Wall Street Journal's the "Future of Everything Festival" where he discussed  mental health and introduced his new mental health and wellness app called OYE. He also spoke about how he feels it is very important to push the conversation on mental health in the Latinx community and worldwide.

The 37-year-old reggaeton musician told Ellie Austin, "I never thought that I was going to suffer about mental health. I remember seeing people go to the psychiatric and I would be like, 'Why are they going there? They're crazy.'" 

Balvin continued, "Because that's a stigma, something that has always been in the Latino culture or even around the world and once I started suffering from anxiety and depression, I understood that it was a chemical disbalance."

Balvin also explained that he never ever thought he would need to seek help, especially not for mental health, but that he is grateful he did and for the prescribed medication that helps him balance and continue pushing his music career.

The "In da Getto" singer said, "It depends on what level you have, but I never thought that I was going to be medicated. Which I feel really blessed because I have a way to... you need chemicals to balance your chemicals."

He continued, "So I feel that I need to speak out because I think ... I go to that pain with myself ... because we have a voice. So I think music is the way it's helped us to send a message. And I really can feel that it's to tell other people about mental health and how to help them."

Balvin is one celebrity that is not afraid to share his mental health journey with his fans, especially since he has managed it with his growing music career. During a November 2020 interview with Becky G on her En La Sala with Becky G podcast, he shared some of the periods in his life that were particularly challenging.

He said, "I was just crying for no reason. Didn't want to wake up, didn't want to eat, didn't even want to live — and I didn't know why." Balvin said that when he sought help and learned about mental health issues like anxiety and depression, he was able to identify all the issues he had as a child and young adult that he never understood at the time.

The "Mi Gente" rapper described a time when he was bedridden for five days just "waiting to die" and said, "You lose hope and you feel strange at every place you go. You feel like you are outside of your body." He shared that this experience forced him to consult a doctor finally. 

Balvin also said that it is still difficult for him to accept that mental health issues can be "more powerful than you." He spoke to his fans through the podcast and said, "It's okay not to be okay. I understand you, I feel what you feel, you know?"

"You might be having your 'best moment in life' and you're feeling like s---. I feel you, I've been there — I'm going there now," he continued, "But I still have this faith that everything is going to be back to normal. I'm disciplined ... I try to live a healthy life."

In June last year, the rapper wrote a personal essay about his mental health advocacy for People, where he wrote, "Mental health doesn't care about your age, your race, your background; none of those things. It doesn't care what you look like, who you're dating, or how much money you have in the bank. Of course it's different for each of us. But it affects all of us."