I don’t really have an opinion on Halsey. I think of all the younger pop stars, she has one of the better voices. I don’t mind that she mixes it up and takes weird risks with her hair and fashion. But I also think she comes across as someone rather affected and thirsty. So it’s a mixed bag. As it turns out, I didn’t know much about her either, and I ended up learned a lot about her while I read this Marie Claire cover profile. It’s worth noting that she was interviewed before her split with G-Eazy a month ago, and that she gushes about him several times in the interview. Who knows if her feelings still hold at the moment. You can read the full MC cover story here. Some highlights:
She’s multidimensional: “I’m in my 20s, so I’m evolving constantly. When I posted about my Playboy cover, someone commented, ‘Oh, you showed your t-ts in Playboy but you call yourself a feminist?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, dude. In one year, I performed at the Nobel Peace Prize [Concert] in Oslo, donated $100,000 to Planned Parenthood, got my first Grammy nomination, showed my t-ts in Playboy, and did about 150 tequila shots. I did all those things, and it’s because I’m multidimensional.”
She was diagnosed as bipolar at the age of 17: She spent 17 days in a psych ward and was put on Seroquel and later lithium, both of which she hated. “I gained, like, 30 pounds. I was throwing up at school. I spent my whole adolescence medicated.”
On how performing allows her to cope with mental illness: “I release endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine. Like, it’s literally a drug response. I don’t manage my mental illness to keep up with my lifestyle; I manage my lifestyle to keep up with my mental illness.”
She pays for everybody’s meals: “I’m a huge foodie, and I’m in the fortunate position of being able to order whatever I want. [My best friend] Payton and me used to live on f–king Hot Pockets, and now we’ve eaten caviar on three continents.”
She & G-Eazy were into “playing roles.” “If we wake up and we’re in the mood to be old-school, I’ll put on a sundress and a hat, and he’ll wear his hair slicked back and his shirt tucked in, and we’ll get in his ’65 Mustang and drive down to Malibu and go eat in a cafe by the beach and sing Amy Winehouse in the car…. I’ve had partners who don’t want to play along. It feels stupid. I love curating an experience, changing it up. And he’s so that way with me. I haven’t found someone who matches every version of me until him. Like, he’s my left sneaker. For every version of him, there’s a version of me to match.”
What is left on her bucket list? “I’ve played Madison Square Garden. I have a number-one album. I don’t have very many bucket-list things left besides carrying a child. It’s a personal goal and a weird one.”
On the idea of pregnancy: “I’m freezing my eggs at 23. My doctor’s like, ‘You’re the youngest patient I’ve ever had.’ Also, nothing like having a new partner and being like, ‘By the way, I need to know if you want to have kids right now, because if you don’t, I need to go date someone else.’ I have a very limited window of time. You know what I mean? Nothing like that to scare away a 27-year-old guy.”
Writing a new album: “Once my tour is over, I feel like anything could happen. I could decide I want to move to Italy for a year and write. I could get pregnant. I finally have enough stability in my career where I can take a breath. I feel like I can let life happen… I’m also really happy, so it’s hard. You’re almost wishing something bad would happen, but you don’t want to sabotage your life.”
Is she affected or is it that she’s 23 years old, bipolar and famous? She just seems troubled, like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl in real life. The way she’s living, I think she’s smart to freeze her eggs (for the future) and I think she’s dumb for paying for everybody in her entourage because she can’t be alone. The party doesn’t stop when Halsey is paying for everything, but what happens if the money runs out, or if she does want to be alone? And the playing roles thing… sigh. I mean, consenting adults and all of that. It’s her life, her business.
Photos courtesy of Mark Seliger for Marie Claire, sent from promotional email.
Good for her for talking about it. I wasn’t diagnosed bi polar until my 30’s I wish I’d known younger… I was medicated in my teens with a series on antidepressants that didn’t work and when off the meds was wild and reckless. I’m glad celebrities discuss their mental illnesses because there is such a stigma behind it. Especially bi-polar disorder people tend to believe were deranged off meds and zombies when on. That perception has to change so that more people will seek treatment. It took a nervous breakdown for me to really seek treatment as an adult. But now I lead a normal life I bake with my babies, go to pta meetings, work a great job and finally a healthy relationship. I still have manic phases but even with those I’ve developed coping mechanisms to keep the compulsions under control. Sorry so long winded just appreciated this article.
@Dlflygurl
proud of you! 😊
Good for you. May I ask how are your manic phrases?
What’s wrong with them playing roles? They’re not out there acting like serial killers, chopping human livers and hosting cult parties in the name of art.
She always looked like a train wreck to me and for the life of me, I can’t identify her voice or remember any song of hers, save for Closer and Don’t Let Me Down. But I really like the honesty in this interview, she comes across as really thoughtful and figuring things out.
Meh…she’s a coke head like her ex.
It is not unusual at all for people to self medicate when bipolar, especially if she hasn’t found the right drug combo yet.
Lithium messes you up big time, some people have to use it because thats all that works.
Seroqual is not a really effective mood stabilizer. it is usually used to get you down off a manic high by sedating you .
There are so many better ones since she probably tried medication last, and not all of them make you fat. which is nothing to sniff at, I gained over 100lbs in a year without changing my eating or exercise at all.
Currently I just take ativan for sleep when i need it and when i have break through sads or break through raging bitch moments. I’m 48 and have been in over 12 years of therapy and really pay attention to my stuff.
But at some point I WILL have to go back on a mood stabilizer, which will such because im a graphic artist and that class of pill sucks the creativity right out of you. but its better than crazy.
My two kids are bipolar, my youngest (13)just spent a week in the hospital because he was manic and suicidal. He is very much medicated and doing much better. My older son isn’t as bad but he takes 6 pills daily
I totally understand her, what she means by managing her lifestyle to keep up with her mental illness. I use my art to suck up my excess energy. But i manage my mania by making sure I SLEEP the most important thing for me.
Hasn’t she been photographed snorting coke fairly recently? Did her boyfriend and their music not glamorize drugs? Isn’t she pretty obviously underweight? Or are her fans going to argue it’s a result of her bipolar meds?
Sorry, she doesn’t get a pass just because she has a mental illness, many people these days deal with it, many poor women who don’t have the same access to care she and her celebrity peers do. What a crappy role model for young women she is.
And freezing eggs at 23? Oh, have a seat, child. She is going to have major anxiety once she hits 30.