PHOTOSMya Says She Took 15-Year Break From Music After ‘Rough & Rocky’ Mental Health Battle
Feb. 26 2019, Published 4:35 p.m. ET
Mya Marie Harrison admitted during a February 21 interview that her struggle with mental health and her family is what caused her to take a roughly 15-year hiatus from making music.
Mya, 39, told Refinery29 Unbothered, “When I first started it was a very rough and rocky time. The definition of success for me was to have my family involved in everything that I did and have people around me that I loved.”
She revealed, “But that got stripped away from me due to a very ugly divorce between my parents who were also simultaneously my managers. At the time my parents were getting a divorce, my mom was simultaneously diagnosed with breast cancer.”
Mya later revealed, “It was very embarrassing at the time. I did a lot of praying. I did a lot of writing. I did a lot of crying. I would just shut down, not knowing if that next phone call would be my mother on her way out, or if my dad committed suicide.”
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The "Lady Marmalade" singer said she left the music industry because “trying to please so many people can definitely cause a lot of stress.”
Of her return to R&B, Mya said, “The grind is harder, the grind is longer, I’m willing to be on the road 11 months a year, no man, no relationship, celibate, vegan, no dating, don’t see my girlfriends, don’t even see my family, or my animals because I want to do one thing. I want to make sure that I’m really happy with what I’m doing and do it for the reason I got into it in the first place.”
What do you think about Mya opening up about her mental health? Sound off in the comments below!
