VIDEO Wayne Brady reveals his battle with depression: These secrets kill
Nearly three months after Robin Williams’ death, fellow comedian Wayne Brady is opening up about his battle with depression in an effort to continue the conversation.
“These secrets kill,” the Whose Line Is It Anyway? star told Entertainment Tonight about why he’s speaking out. “Nobody wants to out themselves so to speak, or if they out themselves, it’s in a very — I hate to say it — Hollywood way… If someone says, ‘I’m clinically depressed,’ that sounds like someone’s making something up. It’s like, ‘Psst, you’re not depressed.'”
Wayne said he’s battled depression for years. He explained it goes beyond just feeling occasionally unhappy.
“Having a bad day is one thing, having a bad week is another, having a bad life… You don’t want to move, you can’t move in the darkness,” he said. “You’re like, ‘I am just going to sit right here and I want to wallow in this. As much as it hurts, I am going to sit right here because this is what I deserve. This is what I deserve, so I am going to sit here because I am that horrible of a person.'”
The upbeat Let’s Make a Deal host said this summer marked a big turning point for him, starting with the “complete breakdown” he had on his 42nd birthday in June. He said he was also hit very hard in August by the passing of Robin, who he worked with on Whose Line. Now that he’s proactively dealing with his depression, Wanye wants to encourage others to do the same.
“It took me a while to get my stuff together to go, ‘You know what? If you’re not happy, you have to do something about it,'” he said. “Just to admit that you are feeling this way is a huge step. To claim that, to say, ‘Why do I feel dark? Why do I feel unhappy? Let me do something about this.'”
Wayne’s full interview on Entertainment Tonight airs on Monday.