Lele Pons Discusses Mental Health Challenges

When I posted a picture explaining like mental health and how important it is and you know it's crazy how the comments yeah all the comments are very very nice but there's just these comments that are like how can you have mental health problems when you're rich and powerful and famous and I'm like I'm human. Before I was famous I was born with a condition I just because fame comes I can't take it away I wish you know like that was a cure. But you can't. I was born with this. When I was nine, I was not famous. You know, being rich and famous and having money had nothing to do with anything. You know, one out of ten people have a really big disorder. It's no secret that the 25-year-old Venezuelan-Italian superstar has become one of the biggest social media icons, boasting more than 45. million followers. Popular music, fun stunt videos, and sketches, Lele has certainly become one of the most recognizable faces on the internet. In 2020, she released The Secret Life of Lele Pons on YouTube, a docuseries documenting her struggles with certain mental health conditions, including obsessive compulsive disorder. Since the release of that film, Lele has been very candid about her struggles with mental health, and in this discussion on EdCircle, she talks about what it's like living with those disorders. how she finds treatment and peace, as well as balancing the demands of her job and life in the public spotlight. Enjoy this conversation with Lele Pons. global superstar. And she made her start in Vine and has worked her way through virtually all the social media channels and has put out some really great hits, music hits lately. Thank you for being here and coming on MedCircle. Jesus, thank you for the introduction. I'm very happy I made you happy. That makes me happy. Well, let's talk about that. I mean, you got your first big hit of public notoriety on the platform Vine and all the stuff you put out there was hilarious but everything that I've read about you said that you weren't necessarily always the most extroverted you know person who's happy to be in front of a camera but then there you were yeah no of course you know um the way I started on Vine was just because it was something fun you know it wasn't a thing to be like social media famous and stuff at the time which was like when I was 16. So I did it for just to have fun and everything and just to make school go by faster, to be honest. And it did. It did. And it helped a lot. But then it was a roller coaster. You know, I was not prepared. I really wasn't. Even my therapist told me I've known my therapist since I was nine, told me you're not prepared for this life. You're not prepared to go to L.A. and you're going to crash. You're going to make mistakes that are going to be for the rest of your life with you. And she was right. So, yeah. Wow. I didn't know about that part. So you're a therapist who I started seeing a therapist when I was nine years old, too. So you saw your therapist when you were nine. You started to get all this traction with this career in social media. And your therapist was saying, you know, I don't know if this is the right call for you mental health wise, but you made that decision to move out to L.A. Anyway, what happened there? She told me, like, I don't think it's a good idea. You have to, like, be prepared to go like they're sharks. And like, you know what I mean? It's a really, really toxic. place. And I was like, I don't care. I have this opportunity now I'm taking it. And I really wish I had listened to her, but I didn't, I really didn't. And, but now I do now I, I really do listen to her. Um, yeah. Your, um, documentary on YouTube, which we'll link in the description of this video, uh, really gave a very honest and vulnerable look at living with obsessive compulsive disorder. Um, I have talked on virtually every disorder in the DSM with many experts and many patients and survivors. And I believe that OCD ranks as one of the most misunderstood disorders. As somebody who's so public, how do you experience the misinformation, miseducation and stigma of OCD? I mean, a lot of people use it as an adjective, like, oh my God, I'm OCD or oh my God, I'm so OCD. And I'm just like, what? what does that even mean it's not an it's not bad it's OCD is a noun like you know um it's a condition it's something in your brain and you know I don't like when people are like I'm so OCD that I have to clean let's say okay okay okay so I say okay you have to clean dope because a lot of OCD people will have to clean now how what is your extreme like if you don't clean are you going to be okay or if you don't clean are you gonna you feel like you're gonna die because that's the difference right because OCD people if they don't clean they feel they can't even function sometimes all right all right by by other people that are like I'm so OCD I just can't stand a room being but you're fine though you don't feel like you're gonna die so there's a big big difference and there's like yeah there's there's a there's a big difference and um it doesn't bother me you know hopefully with my documentary i was able to show um you know like a little bit of um of like what ocd means and people understood maybe some people that um had it that were watching my my my docu-series and didn't know they had it and they maybe like a lot of parents um yeah who knows you you say That's such a good example because it really paints the picture home, but I don't want viewers to hear that and think it is an illustrative example. It is a literal one where the compulsions or the obsessions rather can, if they're not completed, can make you feel like, quote, that you want to die. For somebody who doesn't feel that way, how else can you explain the turmoil going on when you're in that? All right. So let's say you want to touch something, right? So normal people would touch it or be like, ah, like they wouldn't touch it. Basically for OCD, let's say it is, if you don't do something, if your brain tells you touch something and you don't do it, it's as bad as you leaving your kid in the car locked and he's yelling and you can't open it. It's that it's, it's, it's a lot of like uncomfortableness that you have that you just. Have to. And even like the word have to, you don't have to do anything. You don't have to touch. But like when people, when OCD people explain what, how they're feeling, they're like, I have to do this. I have to. Why? Because my brain tells me, because I have to, I feel uncomfortable. Yeah. My understanding is that typically the first line of treatment for OCD is exposure and response prevention. Is that something that you've participated in? Yeah. Oh my God. That's the only thing I own. You're like, Oh, I've done a lot of ERP. Exposure therapy is the worst. It's okay. Tell me about that. Tell me about that. Oh my God. It's just like, you know, like if I, um, for example, I, when I eat, I eat in sometimes like very like ritual way in a ritual way. Like I have to buy like three times or this and like, I have to cut the pieces in like order. Like I do a lot of like OCD when I eat. And like, when I eat with like when I do exposures they make me eat it in like a chunk they made me throw this away they made me just like like they made me do things that I don't want to do and sometimes they like uh they make like um another exposure that they made me do is um you know kind of like I hate when people think like let's say bad about me right so they make like I hate when like And sometimes I'm scared to make somebody mad at me for a reason, right? I'm like, oh, does that person like me? Does that person like me? That comes to me from social media. Oh, I hope they like me. I hope they like this. I hope all that stuff, the being validated, very important. So one of the exposures that I do in my group therapy is that everybody tells me, like, I don't like you. I don't like you. I don't like you. And they make me be mean to the kids so they can be like, you're mean, like mean to me. You know what I mean? So that's one exposure that I do. And then the kids are involved. So I'm involved with their exposure and they're involved mine. Now you're saying kids. What do you mean? Other people your age? Patience. Patience. Okay. Yeah. Not kids. And I mean, I'm not living with OCD, but if a group full of people were telling me things about me that were so terrible, I would have an adverse reaction to that. When you went through that, what was your reaction? It was. horrible it was it was really bad um that was really bad when they make me not touch something or touch something very incorrectly oh that's so bad when they made me touch something incorrectly um but uh even my my you know my cousin has OCD too and I didn't notice until I guess I did an exposure with her like she is someone that's actually she doesn't like things on the place she wants things that are very um clean she actually is uh someone that struggles with like cleaning on city, you know? And she, and she was freaking out when, when, when I like, I don't know, I guess I like put my, my thumb in the cake. Right. And she was speaking out and I was like, oh, my God. At first I was like, oh, my God, I'm sorry. But then I was like, I remembered the way that she acted or her response was not the right response you should do. You know, so I said I did it again. You know, I did it again and again and again. That's how you should do it until she calmed down, until she didn't feel uncomfortable anymore. And she was like she was like almost crying and everything. I was like, I'm going to do it again. And like sit with the feelings. That's how you have to do it. You have to sit with the uncomfortable feeling. until it goes away. So as much as you've said that this, these ERP exposures are hard, bad, terrible, not comfortable. Are you happy that you've gone through them? Yeah, no, of course. I mean, I was so bad before. Like you, you have no idea. I was not, I, I would spend days in my room without getting out of my bed. Like I skipped, um, I skipped, uh, like not skipped. I Didn't pass a grade because I was in therapy for a whole year. So I had to, how do you say, like, not skip a grade, but like. Got held back? Yeah. Got held back a grade. Yeah. Yeah. When were your, or when did your parents get involved? Were they involved early on with your OCD treatment? When I started not like, like just, I told them, I was like, when I started touching like the doorknob of the car and I started crying because I couldn't leave the car and Like, come on, Lele, like, let's go in the house. And I was like, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't. What's something's going on with me? Like, I can't, I have to, I have to do this many times. And that to carry me out of the car, carry me out of my bedroom, carry me places because I couldn't stop touching everything. Got to like everything. That's when I was. How old were you? Not, eight, eight and a half. And when did you get the OCD diagnosis? Nine. Wow. Okay, Lele. I talked to Dr. Jenny. She's an OCD expert out of L.A. And she told me that the average person goes 14 to 17 years experiencing very severe OCD symptoms before they even get the diagnosis of that is OCD. So when I hear eight and a half to nine, I'm feeling like, oh, my gosh, we got parents who are on top of this. My parents are like like and not that parents who. don't discover it aren't on top of it it is a mysterious very you know nefarious disorder yeah yeah asked around they were like what is this what is it like they asked around like i'm the only child you know and like my parents are like my biggest supporters and they were very concerned so they asked around and they they put me in this institution uh neurological behavior institution in weston um and then i've been there and sometimes i go there for a month and uh yeah How would you say your OCD symptoms are in severity on a scale from one to 10 today? Honestly, sometimes there are 10. Mostly there are not. Mostly there are an eight. That still seems very high to me. Yeah, I know. But but they're not as bad. Like some days I can control it better than others. So I'm very grateful because I know what a 10 is. So I'm going to give it to the people that actually like they I know are a 10. You know? Yeah, yeah. So you're very busy as MedCircle and your team and the two of us have been setting this up. It is clear that you are busy, which is so fabulous. I think a lot of people look at that and go, she is living the dream. She's gorgeous. She's young. She's rich and famous and travels the world. I posted a picture explaining mental health and how important it is. And you know, it's crazy how the comments, yeah, all the comments are... very very nice but there's just these comments that are like how can you have mental health problems when you're rich and powerful and famous and I'm like I'm human yeah because I have a brain that's how yeah before I was born no no before I was famous I was born with a condition I just because fame comes I can't take it away I wish you know like that was a cure um but you can't I was born with this when I was nine I was not famous you know being rich and famous and having money has nothing to do with anything. You know, one out of 10 people have a really big disorder. Yeah. Yeah. How do you balance though, the incredible demands of your work with the severity of experiencing OCD symptoms at a level eight? How I just sometimes turn my phone away. I have a good support system i do things that make me very distracted movies hobbies um they distract me from like whatever whatever's going on yeah yeah um what makes lele the happiest uh sadly um I'm going to be completely honest with you. I wish this was a really different answer. I think this should, in the future, I hope this answer changes. But when I'm being validated by people is when I'm happy. Any people. Any people. Because, like, you know, hard to believe, oh, she's famous. She's this. We all have low self-esteem. A lot of people have low self-esteem. And I think that's one of the reasons why I, like. I like social media. Oh, like, let me post this. I hope it gets likes. Oh my God, validation and stuff like that. So yeah, that's what makes me happy. It's really sad, really sad. First of all, applause for you for being so honest with that answer. I think a lot of people who do are happiest when they're getting validation, aren't aware that that is when they are happiest. So that awareness, I think is really commendable. When do you think that is? This is because you really grew up in social media and your career was really based on feedback. The more views you got, the better you were doing. We're in a world that it's all about followers and likes and everything. And like, because I started in such a young age, it's all I know. Like I started when I was 16 and I'm 25. So since the beginning, like it was just like, like, like, like, like, oh, brand new, how much is this going to like, they, they brand new has come to you during, like, because of your engagement and everything like that. that so uh slowly this year I have stopped caring and I've been the happiest how did you stop caring I stopped caring when um you know what you know what sometimes just get tired you got tired of it oh much yeah I got tired you know what I I have a uh now I have a boyfriend who for me him loving me is the most important thing and then it helps me love myself I I was able to love myself That, my family, I moved out of LA and that helped me so much. My family is near me and I'm doing things that I love, other things, more hobbies, more, I'm more surrounded by good friends, you know, than just like business friends. So everything has to do with this year has been better when it comes to that. Wow. Well done. The, the fact that, or when you started to. be intentional with not putting so much weight on the validation of strangers online. Did that in turn help the symptoms of some of the mental health that you struggle with like OCD? Like what? Like, just being you know, okay, whatever, if I get a gazillion views or not a gazillion views, I'm going to not care as much as that. Did that help you in your mental health? Of course, yeah, it took a while. I mean, it takes therapy you know it takes therapy and medication for you to somehow click and be like yeah um it's not that important you know yeah yeah it does it's it's insane honestly medication is for me so important because medication helps you get that chemical that you don't have you can't just wait many people and i do believe i'm very spiritual and i'm very i'm very religious very very religious But at the same time, my parents told me, you can't just wait for a miracle. In the meantime, you know, work on yourself, go to therapy in the meantime, because I do believe miracles happen, but I'm going to not, I'm not going to sit down and not do anything. Well, and I've heard a lot of people say that a medication that they were prescribed was the miracle, you know, and I think there's some truth to that as well. If you see it, if it, listen, if it works for me, I'm going to keep on doing it. Yeah. It doesn't work for other people, but it works for me, you know? Okay. So you're in therapy. Yes. All right. Love it. How, how is the therapy? How often do you go? What do you think about it? Three times a week. You go to therapy three times a week. 45 minutes. Yeah. Cheers to you. Do you do it virtually? Uh, I, I do do it virtually some and then other ones. I wouldn't depends on what I'm doing and other, I just go in person. Do you ever think about your upcoming therapy sessions and go, Oh my God, I don't want to do this. Oh my God. All the time. I'm just like, I have the mindset right now to do this. So how do you show up then? Because you could, Lele, you could just say, you know what? Clear my schedule. I don't want to do therapy this week. I know I can't do that. You can't do it. It's that important to you, even though you don't like it. It's important because you know what it is? Like I've done the not going to therapy and it's got, and it's caused me a lot of problems. So I'm just like, not going to do it. I'm not. Yeah. Yeah. For those. who are not in therapy, but they heard you are in therapy and now they think, Hey, maybe I want to go into therapy. How would you advise somebody to seek out the right therapist? Um, I think, you know, many, many people say that they can't even afford therapy, right? And I think there are places that they help you with that. Like where I go, they're like, if someone can't afford therapy will help them. There's some I don't know what it was, but they there's a there's a there's a way that they help people that really are struggling and can't afford. But I think therapy is really important. And I think that you, you know, usually I hope that people don't wait until it's too late you know and you know what i mean because people usually procrastinate like leave it until the end i don't need therapy and when it gets really bad they're like okay i need therapy now but it got really really bad so i think try it out see the difference and i promise you you're gonna see a difference i mean guys there's a reason why these people have studied their whole lives like years in college for something like this just like how doctors and dentists work like they this is a job this is like something that's proven you know yeah yeah Um, is there any stigma within your, in areas of your life and mental health that you wish weren't there? For example, um, is there anyone in your family, any friends who think, Lele, you don't have OCD, just get over it. No, no, no, no. People honestly know, like in my family, they're like, there's a way to talk to me. That's what my husband say. Okay. What's wait, what's the way to talk to Lele? like don't trigger me i just i have a lot of triggers oh that's fair that's fair yeah you know what i mean and like like don't tell her like look did you see what they commented on her don't say that to her you know i will trick her to see it and check it in a very ritual way like you know what i mean like there's ways to talk to me they know my type of ocd that i have they know what what you know i mean like don't um it's just like many things um don't uh don't tell her that looks um That don't tell her that she looks big today because then she's going to get like an eating disorder, which I have before. When like someone calls me like, oh, you're big or you're this. You start obsessing over, oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I'm big. My bones are getting big. It's like it's just a lot of ways to talk to me. You know what I mean? And it's really sad. But my cousins like have gone to therapy with me to know how to treat me sometimes, you know? Right. Yeah. It is pretty incredible. The. power of community. You know, in these discussions, we talk a lot about medication and therapy, and those are fabulous. And we talk about getting educated on what these disorders and treatments actually are. But that community pillar is something that people keep bringing up even unprompted. It's like, if you got that right group around you, things are so much easier. Honestly, who is who is your right group? Oh, my mom, my dad, my cousins, my boyfriend and my friends, my grandparents. I have a really, I'm so lucky. I have a really good group of people and I'm so blessed every day. And I sometimes cry about it too. Like how amazing they have been with me. That's so fabulous. The gratitude. Well, Leila, you are truly becoming a fabulous mental health advocate, and I really do applaud all of your transparency and vulnerability. especially in those YouTube documentaries, which again, we'll link below. Yeah, of course. Is there anything else you would like to leave our MedCircle viewers with before we go? I think that what if for people that are struggling with mental health, you know what, you're, you can get through this. And it doesn't define you, whatever you are going through, it doesn't define you, you're able to manage it, there's a way to control it. And it's going to get better for you if you are really willing to get better. Can't say it better than that. Lele, appreciate you so, so much. Thank you for watching. I'm Kyle Kittleson. Remember, whatever you're going through, you got this.

You know, being rich and famous and having money had nothing to do with anything. You know, one out of ten people have a really big disorder. It's no secret that the 25-year-old Venezuelan-Italian superstar has become one of the biggest social media icons, boasting more than 45. million followers.

Popular music, fun stunt videos, and sketches, Lele has certainly become one of the most recognizable faces on the internet. In 2020, she released The Secret Life of Lele Pons on YouTube, a docuseries documenting her struggles with certain mental health conditions, including obsessive compulsive disorder. Since the release of that film, Lele has been very candid about her struggles with mental health, and in this discussion on EdCircle, she talks about what it's like living with those disorders.

how she finds treatment and peace, as well as balancing the demands of her job and life in the public spotlight. Enjoy this conversation with Lele Pons. global superstar. And she made her start in Vine and has worked her way through virtually all the social media channels and has put out some really great hits, music hits lately.

Thank you for being here and coming on MedCircle. Jesus, thank you for the introduction. I'm very happy I made you happy.

That makes me happy. Well, let's talk about that. I mean, you got your first big hit of public notoriety on the platform Vine and all the stuff you put out there was hilarious but everything that I've read about you said that you weren't necessarily always the most extroverted you know person who's happy to be in front of a camera but then there you were yeah no of course you know um the way I started on Vine was just because it was something fun you know it wasn't a thing to be like social media famous and stuff at the time which was like when I was 16. So I did it for just to have fun and everything and just to make school go by faster, to be honest.

And it did. It did. And it helped a lot. But then it was a roller coaster. You know, I was not prepared.

I really wasn't. Even my therapist told me I've known my therapist since I was nine, told me you're not prepared for this life. You're not prepared to go to L.A.

and you're going to crash. You're going to make mistakes that are going to be for the rest of your life with you. And she was right.

So, yeah. Wow. I didn't know about that part.

So you're a therapist who I started seeing a therapist when I was nine years old, too. So you saw your therapist when you were nine. You started to get all this traction with this career in social media. And your therapist was saying, you know, I don't know if this is the right call for you mental health wise, but you made that decision to move out to L.A.

Anyway, what happened there? She told me, like, I don't think it's a good idea. You have to, like, be prepared to go like they're sharks.

And like, you know what I mean? It's a really, really toxic. place. And I was like, I don't care. I have this opportunity now I'm taking it.

And I really wish I had listened to her, but I didn't, I really didn't. And, but now I do now I, I really do listen to her. Um, yeah. Your, um, documentary on YouTube, which we'll link in the description of this video, uh, really gave a very honest and vulnerable look at living with obsessive compulsive disorder. Um, I have talked on virtually every disorder in the DSM with many experts and many patients and survivors.

And I believe that OCD ranks as one of the most misunderstood disorders. As somebody who's so public, how do you experience the misinformation, miseducation and stigma of OCD? I mean, a lot of people use it as an adjective, like, oh my God, I'm OCD or oh my God, I'm so OCD.

And I'm just like, what? what does that even mean it's not an it's not bad it's OCD is a noun like you know um it's a condition it's something in your brain and you know I don't like when people are like I'm so OCD that I have to clean let's say okay okay okay so I say okay you have to clean dope because a lot of OCD people will have to clean now how what is your extreme like if you don't clean are you going to be okay or if you don't clean are you gonna you feel like you're gonna die because that's the difference right because OCD people if they don't clean they feel they can't even function sometimes all right all right by by other people that are like I'm so OCD I just can't stand a room being but you're fine though you don't feel like you're gonna die so there's a big big difference and there's like yeah there's there's a there's a big difference and um it doesn't bother me you know hopefully with my documentary i was able to show um you know like a little bit of um of like what ocd means and people understood maybe some people that um had it that were watching my my my docu-series and didn't know they had it and they maybe like a lot of parents um yeah who knows you you say That's such a good example because it really paints the picture home, but I don't want viewers to hear that and think it is an illustrative example. It is a literal one where the compulsions or the obsessions rather can, if they're not completed, can make you feel like, quote, that you want to die. For somebody who doesn't feel that way, how else can you explain the turmoil going on when you're in that?

All right. So let's say you want to touch something, right? So normal people would touch it or be like, ah, like they wouldn't touch it. Basically for OCD, let's say it is, if you don't do something, if your brain tells you touch something and you don't do it, it's as bad as you leaving your kid in the car locked and he's yelling and you can't open it.

It's that it's, it's, it's a lot of like uncomfortableness that you have that you just. Have to. And even like the word have to, you don't have to do anything.

You don't have to touch. But like when people, when OCD people explain what, how they're feeling, they're like, I have to do this. I have to. Why? Because my brain tells me, because I have to, I feel uncomfortable.

Yeah. My understanding is that typically the first line of treatment for OCD is exposure and response prevention. Is that something that you've participated in?

Yeah. Oh my God. That's the only thing I own. You're like, Oh, I've done a lot of ERP. Exposure therapy is the worst.

It's okay. Tell me about that. Tell me about that. Oh my God. It's just like, you know, like if I, um, for example, I, when I eat, I eat in sometimes like very like ritual way in a ritual way.

Like I have to buy like three times or this and like, I have to cut the pieces in like order. Like I do a lot of like OCD when I eat. And like, when I eat with like when I do exposures they make me eat it in like a chunk they made me throw this away they made me just like like they made me do things that I don't want to do and sometimes they like uh they make like um another exposure that they made me do is um you know kind of like I hate when people think like let's say bad about me right so they make like I hate when like And sometimes I'm scared to make somebody mad at me for a reason, right? I'm like, oh, does that person like me?

Does that person like me? That comes to me from social media. Oh, I hope they like me. I hope they like this. I hope all that stuff, the being validated, very important.

So one of the exposures that I do in my group therapy is that everybody tells me, like, I don't like you. I don't like you. I don't like you. And they make me be mean to the kids so they can be like, you're mean, like mean to me. You know what I mean?

So that's one exposure that I do. And then the kids are involved. So I'm involved with their exposure and they're involved mine. Now you're saying kids.

What do you mean? Other people your age? Patience.

Patience. Okay. Yeah.

Not kids. And I mean, I'm not living with OCD, but if a group full of people were telling me things about me that were so terrible, I would have an adverse reaction to that. When you went through that, what was your reaction? It was. horrible it was it was really bad um that was really bad when they make me not touch something or touch something very incorrectly oh that's so bad when they made me touch something incorrectly um but uh even my my you know my cousin has OCD too and I didn't notice until I guess I did an exposure with her like she is someone that's actually she doesn't like things on the place she wants things that are very um clean she actually is uh someone that struggles with like cleaning on city, you know?

And she, and she was freaking out when, when, when I like, I don't know, I guess I like put my, my thumb in the cake. Right. And she was speaking out and I was like, oh, my God. At first I was like, oh, my God, I'm sorry. But then I was like, I remembered the way that she acted or her response was not the right response you should do.

You know, so I said I did it again. You know, I did it again and again and again. That's how you should do it until she calmed down, until she didn't feel uncomfortable anymore. And she was like she was like almost crying and everything.

I was like, I'm going to do it again. And like sit with the feelings. That's how you have to do it.

You have to sit with the uncomfortable feeling. until it goes away. So as much as you've said that this, these ERP exposures are hard, bad, terrible, not comfortable.

Are you happy that you've gone through them? Yeah, no, of course. I mean, I was so bad before. Like you, you have no idea. I was not, I, I would spend days in my room without getting out of my bed.

Like I skipped, um, I skipped, uh, like not skipped. I Didn't pass a grade because I was in therapy for a whole year. So I had to, how do you say, like, not skip a grade, but like.

Got held back? Yeah. Got held back a grade. Yeah.

Yeah. When were your, or when did your parents get involved? Were they involved early on with your OCD treatment?

When I started not like, like just, I told them, I was like, when I started touching like the doorknob of the car and I started crying because I couldn't leave the car and Like, come on, Lele, like, let's go in the house. And I was like, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't. What's something's going on with me?

Like, I can't, I have to, I have to do this many times. And that to carry me out of the car, carry me out of my bedroom, carry me places because I couldn't stop touching everything. Got to like everything.

That's when I was. How old were you? Not, eight, eight and a half. And when did you get the OCD diagnosis? Nine.

Wow. Okay, Lele. I talked to Dr. Jenny. She's an OCD expert out of L.A.

And she told me that the average person goes 14 to 17 years experiencing very severe OCD symptoms before they even get the diagnosis of that is OCD. So when I hear eight and a half to nine, I'm feeling like, oh, my gosh, we got parents who are on top of this. My parents are like like and not that parents who. don't discover it aren't on top of it it is a mysterious very you know nefarious disorder yeah yeah asked around they were like what is this what is it like they asked around like i'm the only child you know and like my parents are like my biggest supporters and they were very concerned so they asked around and they they put me in this institution uh neurological behavior institution in weston um and then i've been there and sometimes i go there for a month and uh yeah How would you say your OCD symptoms are in severity on a scale from one to 10 today? Honestly, sometimes there are 10. Mostly there are not.

Mostly there are an eight. That still seems very high to me. Yeah, I know. But but they're not as bad. Like some days I can control it better than others.

So I'm very grateful because I know what a 10 is. So I'm going to give it to the people that actually like they I know are a 10. You know? Yeah, yeah.

So you're very busy as MedCircle and your team and the two of us have been setting this up. It is clear that you are busy, which is so fabulous. I think a lot of people look at that and go, she is living the dream. She's gorgeous. She's young.

She's rich and famous and travels the world. I posted a picture explaining mental health and how important it is. And you know, it's crazy how the comments, yeah, all the comments are...

very very nice but there's just these comments that are like how can you have mental health problems when you're rich and powerful and famous and I'm like I'm human yeah because I have a brain that's how yeah before I was born no no before I was famous I was born with a condition I just because fame comes I can't take it away I wish you know like that was a cure um but you can't I was born with this when I was nine I was not famous you know being rich and famous and having money has nothing to do with anything. You know, one out of 10 people have a really big disorder. Yeah. Yeah. How do you balance though, the incredible demands of your work with the severity of experiencing OCD symptoms at a level eight?

How I just sometimes turn my phone away. I have a good support system i do things that make me very distracted movies hobbies um they distract me from like whatever whatever's going on yeah yeah um what makes lele the happiest uh sadly um I'm going to be completely honest with you. I wish this was a really different answer.

I think this should, in the future, I hope this answer changes. But when I'm being validated by people is when I'm happy. Any people.

Any people. Because, like, you know, hard to believe, oh, she's famous. She's this.

We all have low self-esteem. A lot of people have low self-esteem. And I think that's one of the reasons why I, like.

I like social media. Oh, like, let me post this. I hope it gets likes. Oh my God, validation and stuff like that.

So yeah, that's what makes me happy. It's really sad, really sad. First of all, applause for you for being so honest with that answer. I think a lot of people who do are happiest when they're getting validation, aren't aware that that is when they are happiest. So that awareness, I think is really commendable.

When do you think that is? This is because you really grew up in social media and your career was really based on feedback. The more views you got, the better you were doing. We're in a world that it's all about followers and likes and everything.

And like, because I started in such a young age, it's all I know. Like I started when I was 16 and I'm 25. So since the beginning, like it was just like, like, like, like, like, oh, brand new, how much is this going to like, they, they brand new has come to you during, like, because of your engagement and everything like that. that so uh slowly this year I have stopped caring and I've been the happiest how did you stop caring I stopped caring when um you know what you know what sometimes just get tired you got tired of it oh much yeah I got tired you know what I I have a uh now I have a boyfriend who for me him loving me is the most important thing and then it helps me love myself I I was able to love myself That, my family, I moved out of LA and that helped me so much.

My family is near me and I'm doing things that I love, other things, more hobbies, more, I'm more surrounded by good friends, you know, than just like business friends. So everything has to do with this year has been better when it comes to that. Wow.

Well done. The, the fact that, or when you started to. be intentional with not putting so much weight on the validation of strangers online. Did that in turn help the symptoms of some of the mental health that you struggle with like OCD?

Like what? Like, just being you know, okay, whatever, if I get a gazillion views or not a gazillion views, I'm going to not care as much as that. Did that help you in your mental health?

Of course, yeah, it took a while. I mean, it takes therapy you know it takes therapy and medication for you to somehow click and be like yeah um it's not that important you know yeah yeah it does it's it's insane honestly medication is for me so important because medication helps you get that chemical that you don't have you can't just wait many people and i do believe i'm very spiritual and i'm very i'm very religious very very religious But at the same time, my parents told me, you can't just wait for a miracle. In the meantime, you know, work on yourself, go to therapy in the meantime, because I do believe miracles happen, but I'm going to not, I'm not going to sit down and not do anything. Well, and I've heard a lot of people say that a medication that they were prescribed was the miracle, you know, and I think there's some truth to that as well. If you see it, if it, listen, if it works for me, I'm going to keep on doing it.

Yeah. It doesn't work for other people, but it works for me, you know? Okay. So you're in therapy. Yes.

All right. Love it. How, how is the therapy? How often do you go? What do you think about it?

Three times a week. You go to therapy three times a week. 45 minutes.

Yeah. Cheers to you. Do you do it virtually?

Uh, I, I do do it virtually some and then other ones. I wouldn't depends on what I'm doing and other, I just go in person. Do you ever think about your upcoming therapy sessions and go, Oh my God, I don't want to do this.

Oh my God. All the time. I'm just like, I have the mindset right now to do this. So how do you show up then?

Because you could, Lele, you could just say, you know what? Clear my schedule. I don't want to do therapy this week. I know I can't do that.

You can't do it. It's that important to you, even though you don't like it. It's important because you know what it is? Like I've done the not going to therapy and it's got, and it's caused me a lot of problems. So I'm just like, not going to do it.

I'm not. Yeah. Yeah.

For those. who are not in therapy, but they heard you are in therapy and now they think, Hey, maybe I want to go into therapy. How would you advise somebody to seek out the right therapist?

Um, I think, you know, many, many people say that they can't even afford therapy, right? And I think there are places that they help you with that. Like where I go, they're like, if someone can't afford therapy will help them. There's some I don't know what it was, but they there's a there's a there's a way that they help people that really are struggling and can't afford. But I think therapy is really important.

And I think that you, you know, usually I hope that people don't wait until it's too late you know and you know what i mean because people usually procrastinate like leave it until the end i don't need therapy and when it gets really bad they're like okay i need therapy now but it got really really bad so i think try it out see the difference and i promise you you're gonna see a difference i mean guys there's a reason why these people have studied their whole lives like years in college for something like this just like how doctors and dentists work like they this is a job this is like something that's proven you know yeah yeah Um, is there any stigma within your, in areas of your life and mental health that you wish weren't there? For example, um, is there anyone in your family, any friends who think, Lele, you don't have OCD, just get over it. No, no, no, no. People honestly know, like in my family, they're like, there's a way to talk to me. That's what my husband say.

Okay. What's wait, what's the way to talk to Lele? like don't trigger me i just i have a lot of triggers oh that's fair that's fair yeah you know what i mean and like like don't tell her like look did you see what they commented on her don't say that to her you know i will trick her to see it and check it in a very ritual way like you know what i mean like there's ways to talk to me they know my type of ocd that i have they know what what you know i mean like don't um it's just like many things um don't uh don't tell her that looks um That don't tell her that she looks big today because then she's going to get like an eating disorder, which I have before.

When like someone calls me like, oh, you're big or you're this. You start obsessing over, oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I'm big. My bones are getting big. It's like it's just a lot of ways to talk to me.

You know what I mean? And it's really sad. But my cousins like have gone to therapy with me to know how to treat me sometimes, you know?

Right. Yeah. It is pretty incredible.

The. power of community. You know, in these discussions, we talk a lot about medication and therapy, and those are fabulous.

And we talk about getting educated on what these disorders and treatments actually are. But that community pillar is something that people keep bringing up even unprompted. It's like, if you got that right group around you, things are so much easier. Honestly, who is who is your right group?

Oh, my mom, my dad, my cousins, my boyfriend and my friends, my grandparents. I have a really, I'm so lucky. I have a really good group of people and I'm so blessed every day. And I sometimes cry about it too. Like how amazing they have been with me.

That's so fabulous. The gratitude. Well, Leila, you are truly becoming a fabulous mental health advocate, and I really do applaud all of your transparency and vulnerability. especially in those YouTube documentaries, which again, we'll link below. Yeah, of course.

Is there anything else you would like to leave our MedCircle viewers with before we go? I think that what if for people that are struggling with mental health, you know what, you're, you can get through this. And it doesn't define you, whatever you are going through, it doesn't define you, you're able to manage it, there's a way to control it. And it's going to get better for you if you are really willing to get better.

Can't say it better than that. Lele, appreciate you so, so much. Thank you for watching. I'm Kyle Kittleson. Remember, whatever you're going through, you got this.

Transcript for:Lele Pons Discusses Mental Health Challenges

Transcript for:
Lele Pons Discusses Mental Health Challenges