Dakota Johnson Said She's Struggled With Depression Since She Was a Teenager

"I have to do a lot of work to purge thoughts and emotions, and I am in a lot of therapy."

Dakota Johnson is opening up about having lived with depression since she was a teenager.

In a new interview with Marie Claire, the 30-year-old actress discussed getting professional help, and how she copes with her mental health.

"I’ve struggled with depression since I was young—since I was 15 or 14," she said. That was when, with the help of professionals, I was like, Oh, this is a thing I can fall into. But I’ve learned to find it beautiful because I feel the world. I guess I have a lot of complexities, but they don’t pour out of me. I don’t make it anyone else’s problem."

Johnson has previously revealed she sometimes suffers from anxiety when it comes to auditions, telling AnOther Magazine in 2015, "Sometimes I panic to the point where I don’t know what I’m thinking or doing. I have a full anxiety attack. I have them all the time anyway, but with auditioning it’s bad."

Dakota Johnson
Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Elsewhere in the Marie Claire interview, Johnson also discussed her anxiety over the current state of the world, telling the magazine, "I feel the most insane anxiety about our world and our planet."

"I’m constantly thinking about the state of the world right now. It keeps me up at night, all night, every night. My brain goes to crazy dark places with it," she said, adding that her "brain moves at a million miles per minute."

"I have to do a lot of work to purge thoughts and emotions, and I am in a lot of therapy," she said.

Depression and anxiety are among the more common mental illnesses in the U.S. — according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, an estimated 17 million people in America suffer from depression, while an estimated 48 million struggle with anxiety.

If you are experiencing anxiety and/or depression and are in need of crisis support, please call the Crisis Call Center’s 24-hour hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

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