Ashley Tisdale Battles

Ashley Tisdale revealed to Access Live’s Natalie Morales and Kit Hoover that the outpouring of love, support and understanding after she released her song “Voices In My Head” has been overwhelming.

The song, which talks about her battle with anxiety and depression, has been particularly meaningful to many fans and she said she is just overcome with emotion knowing that so many fans loved the message.

Ashley also discussed how depression and anxiety influenced her upcoming album, Symptoms. When asked why she decided to discuss her mental health struggles on her first album in nine years, Tisdale said, “I wanted to make someone at home feel less alone in their journey. It’s hard to be vulnerable. It’s scary, but I think that it’s important to share what I’ve been through, and say that I’m human and I go through those things too.”

She said she was inspired to get back into studio after reading a self-help book that talked about fear of failure and noticing the negative stigma around people suffering from depression. “Whenever I’m with my friends, it’s really easy to be like, ‘Who suffers from anxiety?’ and everyone will raise their hand,” she said. “But if you say ‘Who suffers from depression?’ no one will raise their hand because there’s a stigma around the word and I think we have to let go of that.”