Megan Thee Stallion teamed up with mental health campaign Seize the Awkward to inspire and encourage young adults to reach out to each other.
In the new public service advertisement that launched yesterday (Sept. 26) on Instagram from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and The Jed Foundation, in collaboration with the Ad Council and Droga5, the Houston native opened up about the pressure she gets to always be strong and the importance of peer-to-peer support. “I’ve always been told I gotta be strong. Thick-skinned. Stiff upper lip. Tough as nails,” she said in the video. “But to be everything for everybody – it wears on you. ‘Black don’t crack,’ they say. But it can. I can. We all can.”
She continued, “Y’all, it’s okay to not be okay. Reach out to a friend if you see them going through it. No matter who you are, being vulnerable is what makes us whole. Learn how to help at SeizeTheAwkward.org and check out BadB**chesHaveBadDaysToo.com for even more resources, Hotties!”
“I’m proud to team up with Seize the Awkward and use my platform to help normalize conversations around mental health,” Megan said in a press release. “It’s important that we regularly check in on our friends and family and make sure to show empathy, encouragement, and love when they’re struggling. A strong support system can make a powerful difference in someone’s life.”
Last year, the three-time Grammy Award-winning rapper launched the Pete & Thomas Foundation in honor of her late father, Joseph Pete Jr., and her late mother, Holly Thomas. It “seeks to catalyze resources for women, children, senior citizens, and underserved communities,” according to the description on the foundation’s social media outlets. She also launched her own website, BadB**chesHaveBadDaysToo.com, that offers a wide array of mental health resources.
Megan opened up about her struggles with mental health on her song “Anxiety” off her latest album, Traumazine. “They keep sayin’ I should get help/ But I don’t even know what I need/ They keep sayin’ speak your truth/ And at the same time say they don’t believe, man,” she rapped.