Mariah Carey Opens Up About Her Struggles With Bipolar Disorder

The iconic singer spent a lot of time suffering alone.

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Mariah Carey is becoming more transparent about her life struggles in hopes that it’ll free someone else.

In an interview with People, Mimi opened up about her battle with bipolar disorder and through her words, you can definitely tell it’s been a long journey for the iconic singer.

Swipe through for standout moments from the interview.

Mariah was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2001 when she was hospitalized for a mental and physical breakdown. It would be some time before she actually sought treatment. “I didn’t want to believe it,” she told People.

Even in the midst of her many hits and record-breaking sales, Mimi suffered in silence.

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Mariah finally sought treatment recently when the stress of her professional life, E! reality show and romantic life became too much to bear.

“Until recently I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear someone would expose me,” Mariah said. “It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that anymore. I sought and received treatment, I put positive people around me and I got back to doing what I love — writing songs and making music.”

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Mariah is now seeing a therapist and taking medication for bipolar II disorder, which involves periods of depression and also hypomania (hyperactivity, sleeplessness).

“For a long time I thought I had a severe sleep disorder,” explained Mariah. “But it wasn’t normal insomnia and I wasn’t lying awake counting sheep. I was working and working and working … I was irritable and in constant fear of letting people down. It turns out that I was experiencing a form of mania. Eventually I would just hit a wall. I guess my depressive episodes were characterized by having very low energy. I would feel so lonely and sad — even guilty that I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing for my career.”

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Now Mariah is continuing to co-parent her 6-year-old twins with ex-husband Nick Cannon and she’s continuing to make music.

“I’m just in a really good place right now, where I’m comfortable discussing my struggles with bipolar II disorder. I’m hopeful we can get to a place where the stigma is lifted from people going through anything alone. It can be incredibly isolating. It does not have to define you and I refuse to allow it to define me or control me.”