Surpassing:Why Remi Bader Stopped Posting on Social Media Amid Battle With Depression

Remi Bader isn’t one to post through the pain. 

Indeed,Surpassing the TikToker recently detailed why she values social media breaks when she’s struggling with her mental health.  

“There was a point where I was really dealing with depression in January and really having a hard time,” she explained at Project Healthy Minds’ 2024 Mental Health Day Gala Oct 10 exclusively to E! News, “and I probably stopped posting for a month. It was something I needed to do for me and not get opinions from other people. That’s part of putting your mental health first. Giving yourself the time that you need and feeling out like, ‘what is best for me in this moment?’”

Of course, Remi admitted that it’s been an upward climb to protecting her peace when it comes to having a career centered on being online. 

“I used to feel like if I didn’t post for a day or two days, I would lose my career,” she admitted. “That’s so not true.”

And when Remi does post, she makes a point to be intentional about sharing her struggles—something she’s valued from the very beginning. After all, it’s been the ethos of her platform since she started it in 2020. 

“It was my fifth video ever that I started just opening up about my mental health,” the 29-year-old explained. “I think it just always came naturally to me because I struggled with my mental health. I used to feel like it was an issue and really felt that stigma around it. Now, to other people I’m like, ‘So many people feel the same way.’”

But her growing fame hasn’t meant the end of her mental health challenges—and she wants her followers to know that. 

As she put it, “If you think someone with three million plus followers doesn’t feel what you’re feeling, like, we all struggle with our mental health.”

Still, Remi has emphasized before that while she wants to end the stigma with her content, she’s not willing to open her life up for debate or criticism. 

“People say that when you put yourself in the public eye, the negative just ‘comes with the territory,’” Remi wrote in a May essay for Nylon, “and to an extent, they are correct—but that doesn’t mean that we can’t set boundaries."

And those limits are especially important when it comes to facing negativity. 

“Seeing negative comments and messages each and every day about how much weight I was gaining (or losing) made me feel awful about myself and was contributing to a disorder I was trying so hard to keep under control,” she added. “It was then that I realized I needed some separation between what goes online, and what stays off.”

Keep reading for more stars who have been candid about their mental health journeys.

The Full House alum reflected on her mental health journey and navigating her battle with depression.

"It's very difficult to speak out about it, even to your most trusted people," she shared on her Candace Cameron Bure Podcast. "At least for me, I feel like I should be strong enough to overcome that and then it feels so weak."

The Grammy winner has been very open about how she protects her energy, such as ignoring haters on social media, while also sharing her advice for those who may need help. 

"When people ask me what I'd say to somebody looking for advice on mental health, the only thing I can say is patience," she told Vogue. "I had patience with myself. I didn't take that last step. I waited. Things fade."

While everyone was trying to make the best of socially distancing to slow the coronavirus pandemic, the "Firework" artist got real about how situations like this can also be extremely stressful.

"Sometimes I don't know what's worse trying to avoid the virus or the waves of depression that come with this new norm," she shared on Twitter. Katy talked about how she manages those waves, writing, "There is not really anywhere to go besides my car. So I go to my car a lot. That is my safe space."

The model, who has teamed up with designer Kenneth Cole to raise awareness for The Mental Health Coalition, spoke on Good Morning America about her own experiences with anxiety.

She recalled after her panic attacks started recurring, she, "finally kind of got the information that I needed about it."

"For me, I have good days and I have some really anxious days, so I'm really off and on," Kendall expressed, adding that was why she wanted to become involved with the movement. "What I hope to accomplish is for people to not feel as alone."

The Black Adam actor has been open about having depression and how it can be difficult for men to talk about their mental health.

"We all go thru the sludge/shit and depression never discriminates. Took me a long time to realize it but the key is to not be afraid to open up," he wrote on Twitter. "Especially us dudes have a tendency to keep it in. You're not alone."

The Duke of Sussex helped break down some of the stigma around seeking help for mental health when, in an interview with the Telegraph, he opened up about his own journey with therapy. As he told the outlet, "The experience I have had is that once you start talking about it, you realize that actually you're part of quite a big club."

Another proponent of seeking professional help, the Empire star has been open about her struggles with depression.

"I have a therapist that I speak to," she previously told Variety. "That's the only way I can get through it."

Taraji even started The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, which works to reduce the stigma around mental health in the African American community and also works to increase the number of Black therapists.

"When I was in middle school, I was struggling with severe anxiety and depression and the help and support I received from my family and a therapist saved my life," the Riverdale actress wrote on Instagram in 2017.  "Asking for help is the first step. You are more precious to this world than you'll ever know."

The Frozen star has talked for years about her strategies for coping with her mental health at public keynotes and even on her Instagram Stories.

She has advocated for finding the methods that help you best, which for her, according to Health, can include medication, listing ten positive things in her life for every negative thought and getting plenty of exercise.

While the cookbook author is the proud parent to four kiddos, she's also been open about postpartum depression that many new mothers experience but feel like they cannot talk about.

"It got easier and easier to say it aloud every time," she wrote in an open letter to Glamour in 2017. "I want people to know it can happen to anybody and I don't want people who have it to feel embarrassed or to feel alone."

While promoting her book Mirror, Mirror, the model opened up to The Edit magazine about facing depression and suicidal thoughts as a teenager, saying she felt "something dark" in her during that time.

"I relied too much on love, too much on other people to make me happy, and I needed to learn to be happy by myself," Cara told the publication, via W. "So now I can be by myself, I can be happy. It took me a long time."

The "Thank U, Next" artist has encouraged fans to seek help if they need, responding to a Twitter user who joked about wondering who Ariana's therapist is with, "lmaoaoo this is funny as f--k but in all honesty therapy has saved my life so many times."

"If you're afraid to ask for help, don't be," she continued. "u don't have to be in constant pain & u can process trauma. I've got a lot of work to do but it's a start to even be aware that it's possible."

The singer has been open about her journey with addiction, sobriety, mental health and more, including many of those aspects of her life within her music.

She also continually reminds fans that working on your mental health is an ongoing process where there will be some bad days, previously writing on Instagram, "A reminder to anyone struggling out there - this life is a journey with tons of ups and downs but you can't give up."

Not only has the actress taken on roles that deal with mental health, such as her role as Rue in the teen drama Euphoria, she's also addressed those issues in her own life, too.

Back in 2013, Zendaya wrote on her now-defunct app that she struggled with anxiety after an appearance on Ellen where her mic went out. She has since learned ways to manage those feelings, adding, "Sometimes you just have to take a step back so things stop stressin' you."

The singer candidly described her mental health journey with WSJ Magazine, saying, "My highs were really high, and my lows would take me out for weeks at a time."

"I found out I do suffer from mental health issues," she shared. "I got on the right medication, and my life has been completely changed."

The Grammy winner made it her mission to spread kindness and be open about mental health, including her own.

"I have struggled for a long time, both being public and not public about my mental health issues or my mental illness," she said during the Global Changemakers Award at Children Mending Hearts' Empathy Rocks fundraiser in 2018. "But, I truly believe that secrets keep you sick."