Given that May is Mental Health Awareness Month, Alexandra Shipp, who portrayed Storm in X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix, took to Instagram to open up about her mental health struggles having to star in a big franchise like Marvel.
Shipp posted a video of her wearing the costume on the set of the MCU movies and began her honest post by warning the readers about the mentions of suicide, and depression, among other things.
“I suffer from depression. With the help of medication and therapy, I am able to maintain a life of choice. But it’s not always easy. Being bipolar IS NOT EASY. That voice can be loud. It tells me to hurt myself. It flashes images of various ways to do it. It can be deafening.” she wrote.
The actress then detailed her experience of being a black actress in Hollywood and how much she endured the constant comparing and pressure of being told that she was not enough and that going back to play Storm again was something that she could not easily do.
“At this time, I was struggling with my self-worth. I felt unworthy, not enough, and lonely. I trained to be the best #Storm I could possibly be and was constantly told I wasn’t enough. As a black woman in Hollywood, I am consistently compared to and forced to compare myself to others.” Shipp narrated.
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She continued: “It’s degrading and can take a toll. So I suffered in silence. I numbed myself. I isolated myself. I sided with the thoughts that told me the world would be better off without me. When people ask me if I’ll reprise my role I tell them no. I don’t need to go back to her.”
Shipp concluded her post by reminding those who are mentally struggling to reach out to someone they trust, especially during times when troubling thoughts try to occupy them.
The actress also left the readers with words of affirmation and encouragement to uplift them, speaking from her own experience.
In 2019, Shipp slammed Marvel for giving her character ‘barely anything to say’. She openly criticized being "piled into a jam-packed cast", resulting in her being only seen in the back of a shot.
The actress has yet to reprise her role as Ororo Munroe, aka Storm, but she said last year that she hoped that the character would be represented next by a darker-skinned woman.
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