Lisa Vanderpump is opening up about her battle with depression and reveals how it affected her decision to quit The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
“I found it very difficult, a dark hole to walk out of,” Lisa told HollywoodLife. “Grief does take awhile but you do get through it and things start to get better and even on Housewives. All of the fighting, it’s just not something I kind of look for and wanted to do with my life.”
While filming Season 9 of the Bravo hit reality series, Vanderpump was grieving the loss of her only brother, who sadly committed suicide.
The Bravo reality star noted that the loss of her brother Mark Vanderpump was taking a harder toll on her than she realized. “When my only sibling committed suicide, to me that was just devastating,” Lisa, who also lost her mother a year later, added. “And that radiated so many feelings because all of the survivors to suicide think, ‘Oh, maybe I could’ve spoken to them that day.’ Maybe you couldn’t have changed the path.”
Although she walked away from RHOBH, she was still dealing with taking care of herself. “Mine [depression] was circumstantial grief really because of something that happened,” Lisa said. “So for me, I really needed to be proactive with it. I sat there and then I had to start doing Vanderpump Rules and I was committed to that. I was running on four cylinders. I wasn’t really where I should be.”
Vanderpump revealed she found treatment. “I took antidepressants after my brother died and I sought grief counseling just briefly, but it really helped,” Lisa shared. “I think reaching out to people. Not necessarily a grief counselor, but someone you can connect to is so important. For me, I also think that when you’re isolated, even if you can do FaceTime to connect with people, that’s really important. We’re supposed to be with people and integrate. I think exercise is one of the keys to having structure in your life. Getting out of bed, getting exercise,” she explained.
LVP believes COVID-19 has played on mental health in the last year. “I even look at COVID — wow. It was a lot having our businesses shut down and wondering what the hell we were going to do, but I kind of did take the bull by the horns,” she told HollywoodLife. “I didn’t see anybody here for 9 months until we started doing Overserved. We have to take responsibility for our own happiness. Don’t stay in a toxic relationship. Don’t stay in something. If it’s really negative in your life, step away from it. Be proactive. Life is never easy. When things are going wrong, there’s always something around the corner that’s going to bite you in the ass.”
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