Kesha seems to be doing so much better since going to rehab late last year. She’s faced her problems head-on and come out with a healthier attitude, and she’s a lot happier for it. In her new interview with Teen Vogue, she opened up about how she came to her breaking point and how her attitude has changed since.
Over the last five years, music’s good-time gal has written and performed buoyant (and sometimes raunchy) YOLO-themed soundtracks fit for high school ragers and wedding reception sing-alongs without skipping a beat. Yet the singer knew she needed to take a break and face a serious personal problem. “Let’s just get the elephant out of the room,” she says, pausing. “My eating disorder is something I’ve been struggling with for a while. People will make up stories, but I went to rehab for an eating disorder—nothing more and nothing less.” In January, Kesha entered Timberline Knolls, a Chicago-area women’s inpatient facility, subsequently canceling her spring tour. “Making my last record, Warrior, was a pretty miserable process, and it wore my spirit down. I was fighting like hell to keep my whole irreverent essence and everything raw and visceral that I stand for in it, but in the end I was promoting something that wasn’t the animal I wanted it to be. I decided to face my problem head-on.”
Battling inner demons is hard for anyone, but when your job is to be a poster child of kickass confidence, continually belting out empowering, self-penned lyrics only intensifies the wake-up call. “My whole message is to love who you are and accept all your beautiful imperfections. When I felt I was slipping into unloving territory with myself, I knew I had to listen to my own advice and correct it,” Kesha explains as we turn in unison onto our stomachs, a sprinkler hissing faintly in the distance. “I have a public persona where I need to be fun all the time, and I refuse to be a hypocrite. I felt I needed to get help, not only for myself but also for my fans. My worst fear in life is to be fake.”
She also shared her approach to fashion in the past. Her look was sometimes… pretty rough, which was intentional, as she was very against being “pretty” at that time.
“I remember thinking, I don’t want to be pretty,” Kesha recalled. “Don’t call me pretty.” The singer shared how even before rehab, she would do things to refute the prettiness claims. “It was almost offensive,” she shared, “I would put on more eyeliner or draw things down my face.”
The star, who changed her Twitter handle from Ke$hasux to Kesharose after completing her stint, said the “defining moment [developed] about six months ago” after a breakup. “I decided that maybe I do want to try to be pretty,” she said. “I want to just try.”
Aw, bless. I actually really like Kesha – it’s good to see her doing better.
much respect for her, that takes a lot of bravery… and I absolutely adore her freckles! didn’t know she had them, so much cuter~
Well she’s got nothing to worry about there.