Rachel Platten recalls 'very, very dark time' with her mental health
Rachel Platten says it's a "miracle" she is performing at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade after years of battling anxiety and chronic pain made her too afraid to be in public.
Rachel Platten was too scared to go out in public "a couple of years ago" due to chronic pain and anxiety.
The 'Fight Song' hitmaker - who has daughters Violet Skye, five, and three-year-old Sophie Jo with husband Kevin Lazan - went through a "very, very dark time" when she battled postpartum depression after the births of her daughters and has battled with anxiety and her mental health for years, so it's a "miracle" that she is now preparing to perform at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on Thursday (28.11.24).
She told PEOPLE of previous Thanksgivings: "I remember feeling so scared that my chronic pain would act up or that I wouldn't make it through the night because of anxiety or something. It was a very, very dark time."
Rachel continued: "A couple years ago, I couldn't imagine being out in public, let alone on a float in front of millions of people on national TV.
"But look at me now. I was able to make it out of all that pain and instead, I get to shine and be in front of millions of people on Thanksgiving."
The 43-year-old singer still has “waves” of anxiety, but she can cope better thanks to therapy and other self-care practices.
She said: “It's quite a miracle that I made it through it and that I am here and that I'm so strong.
“The same emotional waves take me like they always did, but I have all these tools like therapy and journaling and meditation in my tool chest now that I know how to work with them and let them move through. It's not necessarily that I changed, but I have learned how to accept all of me and love all of me, and that is what I'm most grateful for these days."
