Natalie Bassingthwaighte details her mental health battle

Natalie Bassingthwaighte has shared candid details of her battle with depression. 

In an interview with Stellar this week, the pop star and actress says she quit taking anti-depressants without medical help and experienced ‘hell’ as a result. 

‘I didn’t get the proper help. I didn’t slowly go off it, as you should. Note to people: don’t ever do this because it doesn’t work,’ the 45-year-old said. 

‘It is like you are in a vortex. I couldn’t get out of bed. I was frightened of talking to anybody or of people seeing me. 

‘I could hardly put a sentence together. It was about six weeks of hell’ she added. 

Natalie went on to say that she sometimes worries that her daughter Harper, 10, has inherited her struggles with anxiety. 

Lessons: ‘I didn’t get the proper help. I didn’t slowly go off it, as you should. Note to people: don’t ever do this because it doesn’t work,’ the 45-year-old said. ‘It is like you are in a vortex. I couldn’t get out of bed. I was frightened of talking to anybody or of people seeing me’ 

‘I see my daughter have anxiety sometimes and I’m like, ‘Damn, that better not be from me.” But of course, it is going to be from me and my ancestry,’ she said. 

‘It gives me an appreciation of how to be able to support her through what she’s going through and to give her the tools’.

Natalie added that she is doing better and ‘feels amazing’ these days, but still has ‘highs and lows’. 

Concerns: Natalie went on to say that she sometimes worries that her daughter Harper, 10, (right) has inherited her struggles with anxiety

Help: ‘I see my daughter have anxiety sometimes and I’m like, ‘Damn, that better not be from me.” But of course, it is going to be from me and my ancestry,’ she said. ‘It gives me an appreciation of how to be able to support her through what she’s going through and to give her the tools’

‘It just doesn’t stop, and it doesn’t stop just because you take a tablet, either… Years ago, I was terrified to talk about it. Now I’m not at all,’ she said. 

‘I thought no-one will employ me or everyone will judge me. But now I’m like, you know what, I’m a very hard worker, I’m a nice person and this is one of the things that I have that I work on a lot. I’m OK with that’. 

The former Neighbours star moved to Byron Bay last year after wanting a change from her hectic life in Melbourne and wanting a more laid-back lifestyle. 

Better: Natalie added that she is doing better and ‘feels amazing’ these days, but still has ‘highs and lows’. ‘It just doesn’t stop, and it doesn’t stop just because you take a tablet, either… Years ago, I was terrified to talk about it. Now I’m not at all,’ she said

Speaking to WHO magazine in March, she said she had an overwhelming feeling her family needed to move there.  

‘I’d done a retreat up here four years ago and just had this overwhelming feeling that we needed to move here. Then, six months before Covid-19 hit, we did it,’ she said. 

Natalie is married to her Rogue Traders bandmate Cameron McGlinchey and they share two children, daughter Harper, 10, and son Hendrix, seven.

Read more: In this week’s Stellar with Natalie on the cover