Paris Jackson Gets Real About Mental Health Journey: 'Try To Treat Myself Kindly'

Paris Jackson is growing and evolving. The 24-year-old model and musician recently opened up about her mental health journey and embracing life changes with Spin magazine and said she is now "the happiest and healthiest" she's ever been.

Jackson has made some lifestyle and schedule changes, started rock climbing at a gym, stopped smoking a half a pack of cigarettes a day and goes to therapy. "When I look in the mirror, I don't hate what I see anymore, and I've grown into self-love...I try to treat myself kindly," she said. "I have some bad days where I'm not as kind to myself as I would like to be...I don't do anything perfectly, but I try to progress daily."  She also makes it a point to surround herself with people who make her happy and learned how to prioritize her needs over people-pleasing. "Because I see myself as a friend, when I don't maintain a boundary or when I don't set one, it's like bailing on a friend," she explained. "I feel horrible if I bail on a friend, so if I do that to myself, I'm also bailing on a friend, and that doesn't feel good anymore."

Another part of Jackson's life is doing things that makes her feel good such as painting, watching films, and experiencing live music. During the summer, Jackson enjoyed several live performances including Bon Iver, Tash Sultana, Bob Dylan and Bright Eyes, whose show left her in tears. "I cried for maybe 50 or 60 percent of the show," she said. "It was one of the best shows I've ever seen in my life."

The model began acting at the age of 17 and has appeared in many films and TV shows. "Acting has always come pretty easily to me. It's just something fun to do, another form of expression," she said. While she enjoys taking on acting gigs, she considers modeling her occupation.  Since beginning in the world of modeling, she's been on the cover of Vogue, has walked the runway at Jean Paul Gaultier's final show and has appeared in SKIMS and KVD Beauty campaigns. Jackson originally started her modeling career to grow her platform and gain more attention to her activism for Elizabeth Taylor's AIDS Foundation and the Heal Los Angeles Foundation, founded by her brother Prince.

Jackson has been playing the guitar since the age of 13. In June 2020, she officially launched The Soundflowers, an indie folk duo with her then boyfriend, Gabrial Glenn. They have a self-titled EP and a six-part Facebook Watch docuseries called "Unfiltered: Paris Jackson & Gabriel Glenn." The couple broke up shortly after the final episode. "It was the deepest I've ever loved someone. It was the most intense that I'd felt so far, and the most intense betrayal that I'd felt so far and experienced," Jackson told Willow Smith on "Red Table Talk" in 2021.

The end of that relationship started Jackson on her solo musical journey, and she quickly landed her first record deal in the fall of 2020. Her debut solo album, "Wilted," is about love and heartbreak, as well as rebirth. Her lyrics are raw and personal and down-to-earth. "I want to be descriptive and poetic. I like to go into deep detail and see what I can get out of it," she said. "The songs I write are very vulnerable, and we can all be scared to be that level of vulnerable - not just with another person, which is already scary, but with a crowd of people, it's pretty terrifying."

Last week, Jackson and her brother Prince, 25, attended the 2022 Harold and Carole Pump Foundation Gala together. In June, they also attended the 75th Tony Awards at New York City's Radio City Music Hall together to support the Broadway musical based on their late father, Michael Jackson called "MJ: The Musical." Both siblings attended the opening night of the show in February. Prince first attended the musical last December and told People that the show "blew him away."