Kendall Jenner is opening up about her struggles with anxiety. During a recent discussion with psychologist Dr. Ramani Durvasula for Vogue‘s “Open Minded” series, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star got candid about her mental health, recalling how she began suffering from anxiety when she was still “really young – I’d say 8, 9, 10″ when she began having shortness of breath and going to my mom and telling her that” and how those struggles worsened as her career skyrocketed.
“I think being overworked and being in the situation that I’m in now is kind of what set it out of control in a way,” Jenner told Dr. Durvasula, going on to reveal that her anxiety can present itself in physical ways as well. The model revealed that sometimes her symptoms are so bad that she feels as though she is dying, explaining, “I’ve had times where I feel like I need to be rushed to the hospital because I think my heart’s failing and I can’t breathe and I need someone to help me. Sometimes I think I’m dying.” While Jenner acknowledged that she lives “a very privileged, amazing lifestyle” and is “a very blessed girl,” she said she is “still a human being at the end of the day. No matter what someone has or doesn’t have, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have real-life feelings and emotions.”
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Jenner also opened up about how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has affected her mental health. While she said she has enjoyed having some quieter times at home because she was “really overwhelmed, really overworked” and “always around people,” she admitted she is anxious about COVID-19 restrictions being lifted and life returning to normal, explaining, “if I go to a dinner or if I see a few more of my friends than I’m used to seeing throughout this last year, that gives me anxiety.”
Over the years, Jenner hasn’t shied away from discussing her mental health, even opening up about it during episodes of her family’s reality TV series. In a January 2018 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she revealed that she has suffered from panic attacks, telling the outlet, “I literally wake up in the middle of the night with full-on panic attacks.” She said she has “such debilitating anxiety.” She said part of the reason for her panic attacks was the state of the world, explaining, “you go online and you see everyone saying the worst things to each other, and it’s hard to stay positive. It’s hard not to get eaten alive by all the negativity.”
