It Gets Better: From Kid Cudi to Earl Sweatshirt, Artists are Embracing Sobriety and Self-care

Self-care, health and wellness are so much more than trendy buzzwords. They have become prioritized by more people as we all become more aware of how much our quality of life matters. In music, there are so many examples of the steep cost celebs can pay for fame and status. But even with so many high-profile overdoses, suicides and mental breakdowns, there are those who broke through to something better. There are famous and infamous cautionary tales, but artists like Kid Cudi, Earl Sweatshirt, Kehlani and others have pushed through, persevered and managed to come out on the other side as stronger, healthier people. 

Kid Cudi has been particularly forthcoming about his struggles with depression and addiction. He spoke openly to CBS Mornings about his history with suicidal ideation and drug abuse. While discussing his book, Cudi: The Memoir, he explained just how dark things got.

“I don’t think I felt happy. I think I had a hard time dealing with the fame,” he shared. “I felt like the angels were trying to tell me something.”

Cudi was arrested for cocaine possession. “I didn’t allow the public to make me feel bad about my mistake. The reason why I was doing cocaine was so I could maintain, so I didn't blow my brains out. I really didn’t give a f--- what people thought, I was doing this so I could maintain.”

After working to get clean for his young daughter, Cudi revealed that he relapsed in 2016, which led to him seeking rehabilitation — and suffering a stroke.

“I don’t think I noticed until the next morning that my speech and movement were slow. And then we went to the doctor, ran some tests, and they told us I had a stroke," he explained. "In that moment, I was nervous, I was super scared because, you know, your motor skills are all changed, and I was just hoping to God that I got my s--- back. But it was a scary time. The doctor told me, he was like, ‘You’re 32 years old. You’ll be able to bounce back from this. If this would’ve happened in your 40s, we’d be having a different conversation right now, so you’re lucky.' ”

Cudi knew his cocaine abuse had to stop.

“If I ever do cocaine again, I’m going to die. I can never f--- with that stuff ever again. Like, I have to truly be done with it and be okay with that.”

Like Kid Cudi, Flavor Flav is transparent about his sobriety journey. The legendary Public Enemy hypeman has struggled with drugs and alcohol over the course of his life and career, but in recent years has become an advocate for those committed to staying sober. Back in April, Flav shared on his Instagram stories that he’d briefly relapsed after maintaining over 4 years of sobriety.

“I remain authentic to who I am and a large part of the past 4.5 years for me has been my sobriety journey. I think I’ve been an inspiration to many that if I could get sober, anyone can do it,” Flav wrote. “But just when you think it’s easy, it ain’t. I briefly relapsed. I say this to admit my mistake and publicly hold myself accountable. I am a human being who makes mistakes and it doesn’t make me a bad person. I hope those who are around me support my choice to be sober.

He added: “I went back to day one, again. Time didn’t stop, my journey continues.”

Earlier this year, Jessie Reyez opened up about her sobriety journey on the Great Company podcast with Jamie Laing.

“I started drinking so young,” the singer-songwriter explained. “I got a whole bunch of older cousins. And the first time they got me fucked up, I was 11 years old. My family wasn’t a fan of it. My exes weren’t a fan of it.”

While admitting that she misses it “when life is hard,” Reyez told Rolling Stone that she still doesn’t turn to alcohol.

“I’m currently sober, well, alcohol sober. I haven’t had a drink for about two years,” Reyez explained while acknowledging that she does use mushrooms. “I don’t do it hella recreationally; I do it more so ritualistically, with intention.”

After he was released from prison in 2016, Gucci Mane was very vocal about health and fitness, having changed his lifestyle and shed an upwards of 100 pounds. 

“I was drinking pints of lean a week and smoking pounds of weed and just doing all kinds of drugs,” he told REVOLT at the time. “The whole way I was handling myself before I went to jail was just so negative [and] it showed in my body.”

In his upcoming memoir, Episodes, Guwop is forthcoming about his mental health. He expresses gratitude for his wife, Keyshia Ka’oir, and in an Instagram clip announcing the book, Gucci mentions that Keyshia had to intervene during a mental health episode. 

“[The book] talks about the time when I was going through an episode and my wife kidnapped me with my six bodyguards from the porch and had to take me to a mental hospital,” Gucci explains in the clip.

 On her 30th birthday this year, Kehlani talked about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and her experiences with mental health. “I never saw myself making it to 30 growing up,” she wrote on Instagram back in April. “1 in 10 people with BPD die by suicide, and 7 in 10 attempt it. I’ve had a crazy life… but the last year changed my world. Accountability. Commitment. Growth and change.” The Oakland native shared that she feels “whole, worthy, and ready” now and that insecure person she once was now understands that she’s deserving of it all. 

“She knows it now,” she wrote. “Nothing in the way of my peace, my blessings & my relationship with God… Really happy to be alive.”

Earl Sweatshirt is also embracing happiness. Fans and critics have noted that his latest album, Live Laugh Love embraces a certain optimism in the wake of Earl’s marriage and the birth of his daughter. He told ESSENCE before the album's release that the music he was doing a decade ago was reflective of who he was then, but he’s in a much better place now. 

“It was 2014, and for a generation who had grown up doing different stuff, it was a new lifestyle setting in and the grief from that,” he explained. “Like, ‘Oh my god, I’m becoming someone who doesn’t like anything.’ And I feel like now, so many of us —my peers, people in my zeitgeist — motherf***ers got kids, bro. N****s got kids. So live, laugh, love! If you got kids, that’s it. Like you said: Bombs! Ahhh! But—live, laugh, love. Be nice to your sister type-s**t.

“I feel like by the time you get to your 30s, you’re not even fucking mad anymore. Like bro, we don’t even hang out. But I love you. For me it’s really easy: How do I feel if they die? You don’t see ‘em every day. Whatever. Are you sad that they die? Yeah. Just tell them that sometime: love you, shout out you. S**t’s smooth, man.”