Rachel Kolisi — the wife of Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has once again opened up about her struggles with mental health.
The fitness instructor and social media influencer got candid during an episode of My Guest Tonight with Anika Larsen, which aired earlier this year. And recently, eNCA aired a clip of her interview.
“It is still very stigmatised and people are still on a backfoot if they do choose to speak about it or there must be something wrong with them … as much as it is spoken about today, it’s not nearly enough. We have just seen now this horrible thing that happened to Twitch, that amazing dancer and rapper who committed suicide,” she said during her interview on the television show.
Rachel drew on her personal experience when she revealed that because of her poor mental health as a teenager, she made an attempt at suicide.
“It got to a point when I was 15 that I actually tried to take my own life. That’s how bad that it got. I think now as an adult, I’ve learnt how to manage depression a lot better. But there are people who are unable to talk about it because they are looked at as less than or something wrong with and that’s a problem,” Rachel said.
She vows to use her platform to talk about mental health issues and to raise awareness around the subject.
“I just think I happen to have a platform. I have an experience and it is something that I work through and I do struggle sometimes and am happy to talk about it if it encourages somebody else to talk about it and get help.”
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