Gemma Styles (b.1990) is a freelance journalist and podcaster. She has millions of social media followers. She is the older sister of Harry Styles. In July 2022 she announced on instagram that she has ADHD.
Instagram (2022)
“I have ADHD! Oddly feel more nervous to talk about it with you than I have any other mental health related things, but having referenced it in podcasts recently as I become more comfortable, here we go…
If your first thought was who cares, you do you and feel free to scroll on in silence. Been reminded recently that outside of my mental health friendly bubble here online there are a lot of folks very… not that. Aside from taking the time to process it privately I have also been hesitant about the classic “bandwagon” reaction that can follow when people publicly discover new parts of themselves.
All that being said, I have found it incredibly helpful to hear experiences from other people and have so so appreciated the support (and voicenotes) I’ve found from other women on here who’ve been through a similar diagnosis experience (you know who you are) ♥️ so I hope maybe this will feel like support to some of you out there too. Someone else speaking out was how I first even thought about seeking a diagnosis (long before I did) because a friend sent me a link to say… this is YOU in a nutshell. So while I’m not getting into a long chat about signs of ADD today, I also feel like acknowledging it is paying that exposure forward just a touch.
It’s been a bit to come to terms with, a neurodivergent diagnosis, not least because it’s a lifelong thing about how my brain works, in a different way than say, depression, which has affected a huge portion of my life but isn’t confirmed to last forever (even though it feels like it sometimes). So the permanence is weird. But on the plus side I am finding it massively helpful in understanding some of my own thoughts and behaviours that have hugely impacted my self esteem for as long as I can remember and it’s taken away a bit of the frustration I’ve always felt in not understanding it.
Having access to a diagnosis is a privilege (as we discussed in last week’s podcast episode) but basically want to say that if you’ve been wondering about something going on with your brain and put off talking about it, please do so if you can. ??”