As awareness of mental health increases in the Black community, Chance The Rapper opened up about the pressures Black men face in society and the way he plans to break those generational curses.
During the upcoming episode of her “Peace of Taraji” talk show, Chance, whose knowledge of mental health has grown over the years, admitted that his family glossed over the topic during his childhood. “Wellness wasn’t something that we knew, you know?” he said. “There’s probably a ton of situations where people you know, we just wrote them off as crazy or like they was tweakin’, but they were actually going through a chronic mental health disorder. I feel like this is something that we’re all, as a mainstream, we’re starting to be like, ‘OK, yeah health is beyond just our physical.’”
The “Blessings rapper” then went on to make an admission about an illness he’s been battling for years.
“Obviously I deal with PTSD,” he revealed, adding he’s had a lot of “dark days.” He then noted some of the tragic experiences he witnessed as a Chicago native. “I saw my friend killed in front of me when I was 19, and I’ve seen people I didn’t know get killed too,” he continued. “You become kind of numb to it like somebody else died last week, but it stays with you, you know what I mean? And you don’t realize until later — like I have lasting effects.”
Since releasing her “Peace of Mind with Taraji” Facebook Watch show, Henson has gotten many celebrities to open up about various aspects of mental health. In a previous episode, Angela Simmons revealed that she was in an abusive relationship. Karl-Anthony Towns and Megan Thee Stallion have also gotten vulnerable during conversations with the “Empire” actress.
Chance’s appearance on “Peace of Mind with Taraji” will air on Monday, Nov. 1 at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET.