The first week in December, Alexa Ray Joel was hospitalized after she sort-of attempted suicide by taking an overdose of homeopathic pills. I say “sort-of” because I, and many others, think it was more a cry for help than a genuine suicide attempt, and Alexa Ray seemed physically fine after a brief hospitalization. After she got out of the hospital, her parents Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley stepped up in a big way to take care of their 24-year-old daughter. There were tabloid reports that she has been staying with either of them throughout the past month, and her parents are just trying to focus on making sure she’s getting healthy, emotionally and physically.
On New Year’s Eve Alexa sent out a message on her Facebook page thanking her friends, fans and family alike for their support throughout the past month. This is Alexa’s first public statement since the suicide attempt, and it kind of breaks my heart:
In the new year, Alexa Ray Joel plans to speak up about the “heartbreak-related depression” that contributed to her scary Dec. 5 incident — in which she was rushed to Manhattan’s St. Vincent’s Hospital after swallowing a handful of homeopathic pills. (The pills weren’t capable of killing her, but a panicked Joel called 911 to get checked out by doctors.)
The recovering 24 year-old musician posted a note on Facebook on New Year’s Eve to gratefully acknowledge her friends, fans and supporters. “I just wanted to thank you all for the incredible outpouring of love and support,” wrote Joel, the daughter of music legend Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley. “It’s certainly been a whirlwind of a month, but reading all of your encouraging posts has never failed to cheer me up!”
Noting “many new exciting developments” for 2010, Joel mentions “creative projects” plus volunteer work, including a new pet cause. The rock progeny says she wants “to help young girls with something I feel I know a GREAT deal about: Heartbreak-Related Depression. Although it does not get much attention in our society, it is a very serious and painful condition that often gets ‘swept under the carpet.’ I hope to bring this topic more to light”
At the time of her early December incident, Joel had been dealing with the end of a long-term relationship with former bandmate Jimmy Riot. Joel, a graduate of NYU, says she is extending her education to further examine her depression. “I’m even going back to school for Psychology in hopes to learn more about this and many other afflictions that many of us have had to face,” she says. “After all, there’s nothing more fascinating than the human mind and it’s respective conditions.”
In the Facebook note, the young woman also thanks her mother for a recent birthday celebration (she turned 24 on Dec. 29): ” Just want to send a quick shout-out to my beautiful Mother and all of her friends for the lovely “Birthday Tribute”… I was very moved by that, so thank you!!!!”
[From Us Weekly]
I feel for this girl, I really do. I think she just got overwhelmed with everything that was happening to her and around her, what with her split with her boyfriend, her parents’ public divorces, her own struggling music career, I can easily see and commiserate with how overwhelmed she felt. I’ve been there myself – not to the point of overdosing, but I went through a year when I had a bad breakup, an emotional breakdown and a series of devastating panic attacks that left me reassessing my life. I hope Alexa continues to get stronger and healthier, and I hope we see more of her this year!
Alexa Ray in New York on June 18, 2009 (credit: Fame) and August 15, 2009, credit: Belpanno/Fame.
I think she’s gorgeous. 🙂
And yeah I had panic attacks after I broke up with my first love and one Iw anted to be with no matter what… that was HIDEOUS and I almost did kill myself. I was comforted only by my sister sending me a text message telling me to hang in there and later a message on my myspace saying she loves and misses me… 😛 It was a long steady recovery since then.
Sometimes people think just because they can identify that something is a cry for help, it’s not a big deal. A cry for help means “help me!” Just a friendly pre-emptive reminder to anyone who thinks a cry for help is pathetic.
“overdose of homeopathic pills” – It’s like trying to slit your wrists with a spoon…..
@ bo: So true.
She’s gorgeous. Still, I guess only the children of the wealthy can afford to go back to school just because they find something fascinating.
(Yeah, I’m a little bitter on that count. The rest of us have to earn a paycheck.)
But I’m still happy she’s well.
That is such a humiliating thing to happen. I put myself in hospital once and it just sucked going home knowing that every person who knew someone in my family will know how fucked up i was. I know better now but at the time I felt like a freak.
The good thing is that coming through all those years, nothing can take me down now! Good luck to her, she seems like a really sweet person.
Lovesickness can be excruciating.
My best to her.
Their is no such medical diagnosis called “heartbreak related depression”, she really should stop making up a diagnosis. Anyone who tries to committ suicide has clinical depression, she needs to face the facts and get help for her real condition. The break up was just a trigger for her suicidal depression, so she can’t blame it on the poor guy.
I don’t think she’s trying to blame it on the ‘poor guy’. I think she’s being upfront about what triggered her breakdown.
She’s not a licenced psychiatrist, so I’m not about to jump all over her for not getting the terminology down perfectly. There are plenty of people who use incorrect words when trying to express what has happened to them.
Either way, if she does use this situation as a catalyst to get her some higher education and help people, good for her. That’s certainly more than most people do with terrible situations.
@diva
Psychology is NOT an exact science, no matter what the arrogant professionals tell you. She felt bad because she was thinking of her x-boyfriend and is feeling lonely and unloveable. We’re humans-NOT robots. We all feel bad sometimes, it doesn’t need to be labeled as “mental illness,” it’s the human condition.
Don’t be so naive-there is no set program of “help” when a person is feeling bad. A person needs to heal and learn to love themselves. An apathetic paid professional and toxic drugs to numb your feelings does not usually help a person to do that very well.
I kind of agree with diva. I don’t know if she was trying to make up a diagnosis, but I think that a lot of people would be better off in this country if everyone were made more aware of the depth and scope of mental illness and its long-term effects.
I think that labeling it as ‘heartbreak-related’ depression as opposed to simply clinical depression does a disservice to some in the public. Some people due get very sad after a bad breakup, but for it to lead to suicidal thoughts more than a year or two after the incident seems more serious.
I think that it is important for public figures/celebrities to call it what it is to help break the stigma of mental health disease. There is no shame for you or your loved ones if you are grappling with depression or another illness. The shame is on all of us for our continued ignorance about a painful condition, particularly anyone who chooses to taunt or pity or demean anyone who admits to struggling with a mental health issue.
If we all had a better understanding of mental health issues and how to recognize when you or a loved one needs help, we would all be in a better position.
Kudos to everyone who was able to recognize that they had an issue and sought help for it.
I’ve been there, and it’s not easy.
@FrenchToast: Right on. People are way too quick to diagnose “Clinical Depression” when one experiences the lower end of extreme emotions. As a depression refers to being hollow or sunk below one’s surroundings, a “heartbreak related depression” is absolutely an appropriate term to describe one’s circumstances.
bo, thanks for posting what you did.
when this first happened, there were a couple of people on here who DID call her pathetic, and dismissed what she did as a “publicity stunt”. They also called her crybaby celebrity spawn, implying she couldn’t POSSIBLY be depressed because look at her life and she should just “get over it” because there are less fortunate people out there who have “real” problems.
very uncaring, IMO. yeah, she may have a better life (financially) than a lot of people, but that doesn’t preclude depression.
Why do so many people posting think that “clinical depression” is the only type of depression there is? Situational depression is a very real thing. And I think that “heartbreak related” depression is perfectly valid.
She looks like sunshine in the first photo.
she’s 24? wow..she looks older than lindsay…but at least shes pulling through and working on her problems.
Glad she’s on the mend, she always seemed like a nice, together, talented young lady.
She’s also grown into her looks, from a child who got the “worst” features from her parents, she really is cool-looking now.
I like the way Ruffian9 put it. 🙂
She’s right about the heartbreak thing. People think you’re a weak cry-baby if you get depressed due to heartbreak, because “it’s a part of life” and blah blah blah. But honestly, that feeling is right up there with grief. And no one judges grief. Heartbreak is a big fat mother-f*cker.
Poor alexa.
If there was such a thing as “heartbreak related depression” I suspect more people would wind up overdosing each time a person said it was over. Breakups happen everyday in this world, her overreaction to it is what puts it over into the mental illness category.
ITA Mollination and Praise.
Sudden extreme mental, emotional, or physical trauma can trigger both psychological and physiological conditions that are legitimate. Just because someone doesn’t necessarily know the precise diagnosis doesn’t discount their pain or situation. Situational depression is exactly right – an often temporary, intense bout of depression relating to a specific event versus a chronic, long-term depression. Suicide can be brought on by one or the other, and often both. A personal with clinical depression can be tipped over the edge by an event that would result in situational depression for another person. Plus, broken heart’s disease (layman’s term, yes, but it’s more commonly known) is a legitimate and very real occurrence. Just my two cents – I feel like lots of time people can’t imagine that someone else’s depression is different from their own and thus they must be faking, exaggerating, or incorrect.
*edited to correct my grammar, how embarrassing 🙂
@ Praise. True. I read about Alexa’s suicide on another gossip site, but I don’t put it past people to say such things. I wonder how many people in this thread said that earlier and trying to clean it up by debating what is or isn’t mental illness. and…
@Mollination. Agree with you also. People experience both heartbreak and grief, but does anyone say “So your mother died, get over it! It happens to everyone, you’re better off without her?” Both of these events, and every negative emotion in between can trigger depression as well as mental illness. A nervous breakdown triggered mental illness in one of my relatives, and she was in a good position in her life, went to an ivy league college on scholarship, was studying abroad at the time. Yes, just like stardom, not many people get to have that chance. I’d defy anyone to say that it was something she needed to “get over.”
anastasia, that’s not entirely true… I know a lot of people and i mean A LOT who went back to school after finding disillusionment in the work environment or saving up for school or whatever…
I wonder if her homeopathic overdose “cry for help” brought the guy back? I doubt it. It probably made him run further away. With two caring parents who’ve both been through the love wringer publically, I wonder why she didn’t go to them about her “heartbreak related depression”? Heartbreak sucks but it doesn’t kill you, YOU kill you. I still say it wasn’t a cry for help or a suicide attempt, it was a public way to get the guy’s attention to try to get him to care about her and come back in a juvenile way. She bounced back pretty quickly wouldn’t you say? She’s going back to school to figure it all out. Must be the new St. John’s Wort kicking in.
wow, im totally loving her.
Goddess711: “Heartbreak sucks but it doesn’t kill you, YOU kill you.” In suicide, yes, technically you kill you, that’s why its called suicide, but in reality, in many cases (not all), its the illness depression that kills you. some depressions are truly physiological and if left untreated, the person’s brain chemicals will get out of wack to such a degree that suicide seems like the best option. the person is not thinking rationally – a major organ (the brain) has become diseased by out of balance chemicals. i had a suicide in my family a few years ago – im not getting the terminology scientifically correct, but this is considered settled science on cases where the depression has a high physiological component and is not treated.
at any rate, kudos to alexa ray b/c i think, regardless of the different labels or types of depression or whatever, our country as a whole needs WWAAYYY better focus on mental health and she’s in a visible person with some credibility, so might be a good figure to raise awareness.
Diva – goodness, what with your perfect size zero figure and absolute knowledge of every aspect of psychology (“there is no such medical diasnosis called “heartbreak related depression” – i assume you confirmed that by checking with your fellow Ph.D colleagues and in your pocket copy of the DSM IV?), we really need you in other places than commenting on a blog – maybe you should run for president, what with all your gifts?
She is not making a medical diagnosis, she is giving the reason she was so depressed. People who have parents that divorced when they were young, especially egotistical, self-centered parents often have abandonment issues. And anyway it’s none of our business. I feel bad for her. She must have felt overwhelmingly sad and alone to want to take her life. And if it was a cry for help obviously she was having trouble getting anyone to listen. It’s called validation. All of you that have never been extremely sad or felt misunderstood, please line up on the left. Oh look, there’s no one there. Be nice. No matter what you think, this could be you someday. I hope if it happens you get lots of love and support.
@Goddess711 Holy crap you are ignorant! You’ve obviously never experienced depression, i’m happy for you.
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