Jonathan Van Ness opens up about battling psychotic depression
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Queer Eye‘s Jonathan Van Ness has opened up six months he spent battling psychotic depression following the death of his stepdad.
Van Ness has previously spoken out about the impact death of his stepdad had on his life, when the grooming expert revealed he gained 70 pounds in three months.
Speaking to Time Out, the hair guru discussed the emotional trauma he went through after his stepdad passed away saying that, because he stopped taking medication suddenly, it worsened his depression.
“I was 25, and I was watching my stepdad pass away from cancer. I was in yoga every day, I was in therapy, and I got on and off medication the same year. When I got off of them, I quit cold turkey.
“It was, like, six months of psychotic depression. So, don’t do that. If you do decide to get off, definitely wean yourself off.
“But the biggest thing about self-care is to be gentle with yourself and remember there’s no one way up that mountain. Maybe don’t take advice from this interview about what you should do with antidepressants, because I don’t know you.”
Psychotic depression – also known as major depressive disorder with psychotic features – is a severe form of clinical depression, where people experience hallucinations and delusional thinking.
For more information on the symptoms of psychotic depression, and the ways in which it can be treated, visit the NHS’ website.
Season two of Queer Eye was released in July. (Austin Hargrave/Netflix)
The second season of Queer Eye hit Netflix screens last month, with the Fab Five making over a transgender man, called Skyler, for the first time.
The episode, titled “Sky’s the Limit,” was both praised and criticised for its treatment of the show’s first transgender participant’s makeover.
It featured clips of Skyler getting top surgery, as well an emotional conversation between Tan France and Skyler, during which the fashion expert admitted he had been “ignorant” about the issues facing trans people before meeting him.
Some trans viewers felt the episode was reductive of the trans experience, focused too much on Skyler’s surgery and catered to cis people.
Queer Eye season two featured a trans man for the first time. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
But, in an interview with Them, Skyler opened up about the episode and defended the Fab Five.
He said: “The questions I keep getting asked are, ‘Are these guys really that nice? Are they really that awesome?’ My response is always, ‘No. They’re even better than what you get to see on TV.’
“We spent a week and then some filming, they crush it into less than an hour, and there’s so much that’s left out.”
