LeAnn Rimes’ Marriage ‘Stronger Than Ever’ After Depression Battle: ‘Eddie Is a Rock’
LeAnn Rimes says her battle with depression and anxiety took a toll on her marriage to actor Eddie Cibrian, but they're "stronger than ever" after years of working through her issues.
Rimes has struggled with depression since her young teens, and it got so difficult that she underwent a 30-day stay in a mental health facility in 2012, just a year after marrying Cibrian.
“At one point, there was such a weight on my marriage,” Rimes tells People. “Eddie and my friends and those close to me experienced pain through my eyes. They weren’t exempt from it."
Rimes says depression and anxiety can be "very isolating, and a very self-absorbed situation,” and admits, "I had a lot of co-dependency. My first night in treatment was the first night I’d ever been alone. There was a lot of healing to do."
The 37-year-old singer says her struggles began with her early fame, after she shot to overnight success with "Blue" at the age of 14 in 1996. She also points to her parents' divorce and the collapse of her first marriage to dancer Dean Sheremet in 2009 as contributing factors. Rimes says she "needed a lot of understanding and openness to see how others had been affected around me" after she returned home from treatment, and attributes a lot of her subsequent healing to Yin Yoga, breath work and medication. She says working on herself has brought about important changes in her marriage, too.
“By being able to care for my own body and not expecting Eddie to do it for me, we’ve been able to become better partners,” Rimes states. “Eddie is a rock. And we’re not so enmeshed. We can build our own selves up and I think that's so important. We’re stronger than ever.”
Rimes is opening up about her depression and anxiety in public as part of the Let's Talk About It initiative, through which People encourages readers to "have vital conversations about their mental health." They've partnered with the Crisis Text Line, which offers free around-the-clock support from trained counselors. Those who need help can text STRENGTH to 741741, or contact the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
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