This archive report was first published on 19 June 2020.
Published on June 19, 2020, Tanzanian singer and songwriter Vanessa Mdee has opened up about her secret struggle with alcoholism in her podcast, One on One with Vanessa Mdee.
On the podcast, Mdee shared that for a significant part of 2019, she drank herself to sleep every night and lied to those around her to cover up her struggles.
'I drank myself to sleep every night. I am not proud of it but it is my truth and I know there are people who need to hear this. I was lying to people around me to cover up and to keep the facade alive,' she narrated.
Mdee explained that she wanted to share her truth with her fans because she didn't want to live a 'candy-coated life' where she hid her struggles with depression, anxiety, and alcoholism.
'I became a person of horrible choices. I couldn’t recognise myself anymore because I woke up every day trying to just get by and I don’t want to just get by anymore. More than ever, I had moments of anxiety and moments of depression, I had moments of I don’t know what to do next because this pressure is unnatural for a human being,' she confessed.
She added that despite having a perfect life on the outside, she was dying inside and had become a robot, unhappy and unfulfilled.
'I have no desire to do anything that is music industry-related, I have no desire to go to another award show, to keep up a facade, I have no desire to be a pseudo person which I truly became and I could not recognise myself anymore,' the singer said.
