Dakota Johnson Says She's Struggled With Depression Since She Was a Teenager

Dakota Johnson shared why she finds her struggle with depression "beautiful."

By Samantha Schnurr May 12, 2020 3:02 PMTags

For Dakota Johnson, there's a silver lining to her struggle with depression. 

In a newly published interview for Marie Claire as the "Summer 2020" issue cover girl, the Fifty Shades star got personal as she opened up about her years-long experience with depression. 

"I've struggled with depression since I was young—since I was 15 or 14," she recalled to the magazine. "That was when, with the help of professionals, I was like, Oh, this is a thing I can fall into."

However, "I've learned to find it beautiful because I feel the world," she noted. "I guess I have a lot of complexities, but they don't pour out of me. I don't make it anyone else's problem."

Elsewhere in the interview, the now-30-year-old star shared that her brain "moves at a million miles per minute." "I have to do a lot of work to purge thoughts and emotions, and I am in a lot of therapy," Johnson said. 

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She spoke of dealing with crippling anxiety in a 2015 interview with AnOther Magazine, explaining, "Sometimes I panic to the point where I don't know what I'm thinking or doing. I have a full anxiety attack."

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Johnson elaborated, "I have them all the time anyway, but with auditioning it's bad."

Nearly five years later, the coronavirus pandemic is keeping her up at night. 

"I'm constantly thinking about the state of the world right now," she said in the interview, which took place in February.

"It keeps me up at night, all night, every night...My brain goes to crazy dark places with it."

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