Ella Hooper has revealed her struggles with mental health in a new podcast.
The Killing Heidi frontwoman, 42, revealed on Support Act’s Outside In podcast that losing her parents Jeremy and Helen to cancer in 2022 had a profound effect on her mental health. Â
‘I’ve always identified as a really strong person and somebody who doesn’t need much help,’ Ella said.
‘My mum had a long cancer journey and my dad had a sudden, shocking and surprise cancer journey. He actually ended up dying two weeks before my mum, even though we’d been preparing to say goodbye to mum for a year or more.’
She added that coping with such a huge loss had been ‘surreal’.
‘I’m still swimming through a pretty surreal period in my life, and waiting to feel normal again,’ Ella said.
Ella Hooper has candidly opened up about her struggles with mental health in a new podcast
She continued: ‘Now I’m sort of realising maybe that will never happen. The challenge now is how to be okay in this new reality.’
Ella also spoke about the effects mental ill health had on her, while adding that she is learning how to navigate her struggle. Â
‘There’s been some times where I don’t want to do anything,’ she said.
‘I’ve been sadder than I’ve ever been, but I’ve also learned how to love that person.    Â
‘I’m only now becoming someone who thinks about my own mental health critically, in the last few years to be honest.’
She added that one of the biggest lessons she has learned is knowing when to ask for help.
‘It gets f***ing hard sometimes, and now I’m learning to ask for help when it does, which is just a game changer,’ she said.
The singer said that much of her comfort with discussing her mental health had come with age.Â
The Killing Heidi frontwoman revealed losing her parents to cancer had a profound effect on her mental health
‘I’m still swimming through a pretty surreal period in my life, and waiting to feel normal again,’ she said. Ella is pictured with her father, Jeremy
‘I don’t know if it was growing up in the 90s or trying to be a tough cookie being a frontwoman of a rock band – I didn’t really get the put your own mask on first memo,’ she said.
‘It’s just a brilliant thing about getting older – becoming less cringey when I say: ‘hey I am not coping today’. I just never would’ve said that when I was in the first 10, 20 years of my career.Â
‘I think there’s been many times in my life where I’ve run myself into the ground and not realised that I’ve been experiencing mental ill health.’
In 1999, Killing Heidi – made up of Ella, her brother Jesse and their friends Aaron Hart on drums and Rowen Murphy on bass – stormed the Australian music charts with their hit song Mascara from their debut album Reflector.
The band continued to rack up more hits with their follow-up songs Superman/Supergirl and Weir, and won four ARIA Awards in 2000, including Album of the Year and Best Group.
If you need support, contact Lifeline 13 11 14, or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636
