Barb From "Stranger Things" Just Revealed She Used To Self-Harm In Moving Message
8 November 2016, 12:25 | Updated: 7 November 2017, 16:51
"Recovery is possible."
Over the past year, we've seen a lot of actors and artists open up about mental health and other important body issues to their fans but there's rarely a word spoken about self-harm. That was until Shannon Purser - aka ya home girl Barb on Stranger Things - opened up about a pretty serious health issue.
Shannon took to her Twitter on November 7 and posted a striking image of a razor blade with an accompanying caption.
*TRIGGER WARNING* I haven't self-harmed in years, but I kept this around, "just in case." I forgot it was there & now it's in the trash. pic.twitter.com/C0oAQTL0IM
— Shannon Purser (@shannonpurser) November 7, 2016
She followed up the powerful tweet with this:
Recovery is possible. Please don't give up on yourself.
— Shannon Purser (@shannonpurser) November 7, 2016
The tweet sparked a massive response from her followers and other people who have dealt with self harm, all of whom were grateful for the visibility.
@shannonpurser as someone who used to also have a 'just in case' blade too, I'm glad to hear it was thrown out. #respect
— Bjorn Ironsides (@dgbottom) November 7, 2016
@shannonpurser i'm so fucking proud of you. This make me so happy!! I'm soon 1 year clean!
— pretty emi (@lovatisime) November 7, 2016
@shannonpurser i'm so happy for you. and proud. it's not easy. i'll be one yr clean next month. i don't even know where my "just in case" is
— haIIie (@rriiver) November 7, 2016
@shannonpurser So glad you can share your struggles! And yes! The trash is where it belongs! I'm a little over a year and a half now! :)
— Katrina (@hopeimophelia) November 7, 2016
@shannonpurser knowing that other people (especially someone who i look up to) have struggled with the same thing is kind of comforting
— niina (@gillykatic) November 8, 2016
It's so important for people to hear others talk about serious topics as such as self harm, and particularly even more so from an actor on the most talked about TV show in the world right now. We seriously applaud Shannon for using her platform to discuss a topic like this.
Speaking to ET after posting the tweets, Shannon said: "I'm so happy to be able to help other people by talking about my struggles. I guess I'd just say, 'You're worthy of love, valuable, and beautiful. You can and will get through this.'"
What did we do deserve to this babe?
via giphy.com
