Stevie Nicks Shared Her Best Tips for ‘Feeding [Her] Soul’ When She Feels Depressed
Stevie Nicks has lived a rock star lifestyle for decades, but she’s always happy to share about the less glamorous parts of her past. In interviews, Nicks speaks candidly about her past drug use, messy breakups, and mental health. Recently, she talked about her tried-and-true methods for feeling better during bouts of depression. Here’s how Nicks takes care of her mental health.
Stevie Nicks goes through periods of depression
Nicks has gone through periods of sadness since before she joined Fleetwood Mac. She explained that there was a time soon after the band became successful when she felt a crush of “scary” loneliness.
“I thought, ‘Here I am, we just won these fantastic awards, we’ve just been on TV, everybody is singing our praises and here I am driving home in my black limousine.’ Terribly alone,” she told Rolling Stone in 1977. “Sort of knowing how it would feel to be Marilyn Monroe or something. It was a very strange feeling and I didn’t like it at all.”
In 2022, she explained that many of her family members experienced similar feelings.
“I’m not bipolar, but I’m something. I call it the Nicks crazies,” she told the New Yorker. “My dad and my two uncles and my grandfather, they all had it too. My brother. And when I have that the least is when I’m really involved in doing stuff.”
She shared her favorite ways to keep her spirits and creativity high
Nicks has learned ways to make herself feel better when she feels low. The first, naturally, is listening to music. She shared that every time she puts on music, she’s “just feeding my soul.”
“When you keep music in your life, I think it just changes you and pulls you out of a deep hole,” she said. “Whenever I’m depressed, I just put music on.”
She explained that her music taste is eclectic but revealed that “Nelly was my favorite.”
Nicks also has a “telephone book” sized journal in which she writes poetry and prose. She explained that while it contains a lot of memories from her time in Fleetwood Mac, she doesn’t often look back.
“I would rather spend the time writing a new journal entry than going back and reading old journal entries, because if you go back you’re not going to go forward,” she explained. “I just try to keep going forward.”
Nicks’ favorite way to cheer herself up is the animated film Storks.
“You just have to buy this movie and have it on replay at all times,” she said. “It’s a cartoon, but it’s a massive movie of life and love and sadness and tragedy. That’s my answer to depression: Storks.”
Stevie Nicks shared that she feels less lonely these days
Though she felt lonely early in her career, Nicks says she doesn’t experience the emotion as much these days.
“People say, ‘But you’re alone.’ But I don’t feel alone,” she told Vulture. “I feel very un-alone. I feel very sparkly and excited about everything. I know women who are going, like, ‘I don’t want to grow old alone.’ And I’m like, ‘See, that doesn’t scare me.’ Because I’ll never be alone. I’ll always be surrounded by people. I’m like the crystal ball and these are all the rings of Saturn around me.”
How to get help: In the U.S. and Canada, text the Crisis Text Line at 741741 to reach a crisis counselor for support.
