Time to Change comments on The Daily Telegraph article by Richard Eden on Saturday 9 November, which discusses celebrities speaking out about their mental health problems.

Sue Baker, our Director said:

"Everyone should be able to speak out about their mental health problems, regardless of their public profile. We want to see more people speaking openly about their experiences - famous and not famous.

"Being famous doesn't make you immune to mental health problems, just as it doesn't make you immune to any other health issue. But it may help to generate media interest in your experience, as this article quoting Bill Oddie and Ruby Wax demonstrates.

"Time to Change and thousands of others, including celebrities, have been campaigning for years to challenge negative attitudes and behaviours towards people with mental health problems. We are starting to see changes emerge, but sadly there is still a long way to go until stigma is completely eradicated.

"Talking about mental health is a good way to encourage others to seek help and support, and change public attitudes."

Mind surveyed around 2,000 members of the public last year and found that actually most people are not cynical about celebrities speaking out about mental health. When asked 'why do you think some celebrities speak publicly in the media about their mental health problems?' 53% believed they did it to encourage others to seek help and support for mental health problems and 52% agreed it was to change public attitudes about mental health problems. Only 14% thought that celebrities talked about mental health problems to be 'fashionable'.