26 famous people who opened up about social anxiety

Disclaimer: My content is NOT a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. When in doubt, ask a therapist!

One driver of social anxiety is the fear of being disliked.

But if you’re a superstar— say you have millions of fans who adore you — that shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Well, it turns out that a surprising number of famous people are socially anxious too.

Can popular people have social anxiety?

Here’s what Iffah Suraya Jasni, M.Couns, said:

“Celebrities such as musicians and actors may face a lot of pressure to live up to their reputation. After all, the very nature of their reputation is social: made alive and confirmed by an audience. They may therefore inevitably fixate on what people think of them, prioritizing this over what they think of themselves.”

John Mayer

John Mayer is a multi-GRAMMY-winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

In an interview, he revealed one of his earliest experiences with social anxiety:

“By the time we got to the movie theater, I was eating like Tums because I had such bad nervous stomach — this was before like you figured out benzodiazepines — and before we even got out of the car I was like, ‘I have a stomachache, can you drive me home?’ And she drove me all the way home and I got home…

I’m deeply uncomfortable in a lot of situations. And so, for a really long time I would resist going out with anybody because it would make me so nervous that my stomach, I would just, it would be terrible.”

Tony Leung

For his performance in In the Mood for Love — a movie that ranked 5th in the “Greatest Films of All Time” critics’ poll — Tony Leung won a Cannes award for Best Actor. (The movie also happens to be one of my all-time favorites. Go watch it!)

While he’s graced the screen for decades, he has had social anxiety to this day. His wife, Carina Lau, recounted his moviegoing habit — a clear example of safety behavior — in an interview:

“He buys six seats but would only sit in one of them because he’s afraid that people might disturb him. He’s very socially anxious.”

Tony has also openly shared his experience with social anxiety:

“I’m not good at expressing myself with words, I feel nervous when I meet someone for the first time and feel at a loss when there are too many people.”

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence played multiple roles that you are probably familiar with: Mystique in X-Men and Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games.

In a Vogue interview, she said:

“I’ve always just had this weird [social] anxiety. I hated recess. I didn’t like field trips. Parties really stressed me out.”

While therapy didn’t work for her, acting did, as it gave her self-confidence for the first time in her life. She recalled a conversation her parents had: “We’re paying for therapy and all this medication, and we don’t need it when she’s here [acting]. She’s happy.”

(Bessel van der Kolk, MD, explained that acting can be therapeutic by helping someone see themselves in a different role — one that allows them to get unstuck from their limiting beliefs and live more freely.)

Russell Brand

Russell Brand is a comedian and actor who’s known for his outspoken views on sociopolitical issues.

He made multiple Youtube videos on social anxiety, and here’s what he said in one of them:

“I’ve analyzed my own social anxiety… I realized at the root of it was my unaddressed sense that there was something to gain — that it could be as subtle as approval, or as obvious as sexual congress or some money or some job or something.”

Charles Darwin

Apart from panic disorder, Charles Darwin also had severe public speaking anxiety, a form of social anxiety. He wrote to his son in a letter:

“I was so nervous at first, I somehow could see nothing all around me, but the paper, & I felt as if my body was gone, & only my head left.”

Eva Longoria

As an actress, Eva Longoria is best known for her role as Gabrielle Solis on Desperate Housewives.

In an E! News interview, she opened up about her social anxiety:

“I get social anxiety. I have so many friends in the business, but I still go, ‘There’s going to be big stars there.’ There’s still that anxiety of ‘do I belong?'”

Marcus Lemonis

Marcus Lemonis is the chairman and CEO of Camping World, a billion-dollar recreational vehicle company. He was also the host of CNBC’s The Profit.

Despite his cross-industry success, Marcus said:

“I’ve been blessed with a nice business and financial success, but I still have social anxiety and I don’t have the confidence I wish I had.”

His advice to socially anxious teens? Use business as a “safe space” to build professional relationships and even friendships. (This can be helpful if you feel more comfortable in business settings.)

Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka is the first Asian tennis player to hold the World No. 1 ranking.

In 2021 however, she withdrew from the French Open due to her anxiety. She tweeted:

“Anyone that knows me knows I’m introverted, and anyone that has seen me at tournaments will notice that I’m often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety.”

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand is one of the only 18 performers who won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.

But as a result of forgetting her lyrics at a concert, she developed stage fright, a type of social anxiety, and subsequently avoided live performances for close to thirty years. She said:

“I didn’t sing and charge people for 27 years because of that night … I was like, ‘God, I don’t know. What if I forget the words again?”

If you tend to avoid certain social situations like Barbra, check out this article of mine: Avoidance: how it makes social anxiety worse

Donny Osmond

Donny Osmond has had a long, illustrious career like Barbra Streisand. As a singer, he notched multiple hit songs. As a reality TV star, he won Dancing with the Stars (season 9).

In a documentary, he recounted how perfectionism and fear of judgment led to his social anxiety, culminating in a major panic attack:

“There are times I remember where if I had the choice of walking on stage or dying, I’d have chosen death…I’m afraid of making a mistake.”

Thankfully, his production company flew in a therapist, Jerrilyn Ross, who then did three full days of cognitive restructuring and exposure therapy with him.

“I kind of taught him to play with the fear, instead of running from it. He was telling me he gets butterflies in his stomach. I said, ‘OK, let’s let the butterflies fly in formation. Let’s give them a color, even a name.'”
— Jerrilyn Ross

The intensive treatment worked, and Donny has been back on stage since then.

(What I especially respect about Donny is his continued mental health advocacy: he has been an honorary director of the Anxiety & Depression Association Of America (ADAA) since 2004.)

Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran is one of the most popular singer-songwriters of our generation. As of April 2023, he has over 83.38 million monthly listeners on Spotify (that’s the equivalent of Germany’s entire population.)

In an interview with Charlamagne Tha God, one of his collaborators, he said:

“I have social anxiety. I hate large groups of people, which is ironic, because I play shows for a living… But I just feel claustrophobic and don’t like being around too many people.”

Shonda Rhimes

*Credit: Sarah E. Freeman/Grady College*

Shonda Rhimes is the producer and screenwriter of multiple hit shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal.

In her book Year Of Yes, she wrote how her social anxiety was so overwhelming that she would forget much of her Oprah interview, as she was worried that she would say something wrong.

Wanting to get the better of her anxiety, she did a one-year experiment where she said yes to everything that was anxiety-provoking. Check out her TED talk in which she shared her experience:

Shonda Rhimes: My year of saying yes to everything

(What Shonda did is an excellent case study of exposure therapy. Learn about exposure therapy here.)

Ricky Williams

Ricky Williams is a former NFL player and a Heisman Trophy winner.

He shared his story with the Anxiety & Depression Association of America:

“After I was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, I felt immense relief because it meant that there was a name for my suffering. I wasn’t crazy or weird, like I thought for so many years.”

Cole Sprouse

Cole Sprouse was a Disney kid star. In a UNILAD interview, he revealed what it feels like to have social anxiety:

“My social anxiety feels a lot like sitting in a sauna where it’s just a bit too hot like the sauna right before you have to get out.”

In moments of social anxiety, he recommends meditating and noticing your senses:

“What do I see? What do I smell? What can I hear? Can I taste anything? What do I feel? It immediately grounds me in the process. These things are grounding mechanisms that I really enjoy when I start to feel social anxiety… Grounding yourself in the present is the greatest enemy of anxiety.”

Kevin Love

Kevin Love is a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, an NBA-winning team, as well as the Olympic-winning US national team.

Under the veneer of success, Kevin experienced a constant stream of anxiety. In his words:

“I was living alone at the time, and my social anxiety was so bad that I never even left my apartment. Actually, I would rarely even leave my bedroom. I would have the shades down most of the day, no lights on, no TV, nothing. It felt like I was on a deserted island by myself, and it was always midnight.”

What helped him was therapy and medication. He also highly recommended sharing your mental health challenges with someone else:

“You would be amazed at how freeing it is just to talk to somebody, and tell them the truth about what you’re going through.”

Warren Buffett

As a fan of Buffett’s eloquent speeches and witty one-liners, I was surprised to learn that he had public speaking anxiety (a form of social anxiety).

“I had been terrified of public speaking. I couldn’t do it and [I would] throw up.”

He worked through his fears by attending a Dale Carnegie course, and he encouraged others to confront their social fears like he did:

“If you have a fear of associating with people, you have to go out there and do it, [even if] it’s painful…”

Kendall Jenner

You wouldn’t expect a Kardashian family member to have social anxiety, but here’s what Kendall Jenner said…

“I know I live a very privileged, amazing lifestyle… [But] I was always around people and I kind of got really overwhelmed with all of that to the point that I need to be alone.”

Lili Reinhart

Lili Reinhart is probably best known for her Betty Cooper role in Riverdale.

She talked about her social anxiety in a Seventeen interview:

“I’ve had social anxiety forever—I don’t thrive in social or party settings. Betty doesn’t either, but she’s more inclined to go out and do things. I’d rather stay home and read a book!”

To cope with her anxiety, she went on a spiritual healing journey, whether it was trying meditation or visiting temples:

Lana Condor

Lana Condor debuted as Jubilee in X-Men: Apocalypse (how’s that for a career start?)

In a Hi Anxiety feature, she talked about how unhelpful comparisons led to her social anxiety:

“These days we are so sucked into our screens, and our lives are so perfectly curated, I think that contributed a lot to the social anxiety that I have. But now I’m older and I can see why. You see all these perfect lives and your life isn’t like that, so if I go out and people see that my life isn’t like perfect, then I’m afraid that they’ll judge me and they won’t like me.”

Hayley Kiyoko

As a multi-talented creative, Hayley Kiyoko supported Justin Bieber on his world tour and played Velma in two Scooby-Doo movies.

In a Hi Anxiety video, she shared how she has experienced social anxiety and panic attacks as an LGBT individual:

“Growing up, I was always worried about being judged. Hanging out with a group of friends or being on the playground and immediately feeling that I was being judged for who I was.”

Shailene Woodley

Shailene Woodley is an actress best known for her supporting role in The Descendants, starring aside George Clooney and garnering multiple award nominations.

In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she disclosed her experience with social anxiety and how she worked through it:

“I now understand that I had extreme social anxiety—I never felt safe, I never felt like I could trust people, I never felt like it was okay to not be in control, that there were other people who could take care of me…

Now I can sleep at night. I feel much more grounded and rooted in my body, and I show more compassion and kindness towards myself.”

Related article: 25 questions to cultivate kindness

Suga (BTS)

Suga, the rapper of the Kpop boy band BTS, has long been an advocate of mental health:

“I think, for anybody, these emotions are not something that need to be hidden. They need to be discussed and expressed. Whatever emotions that I may be feeling, I’m always ready to express them now, as I was before.”

In his song, The Last, he shared:

"Around the age of 18, I developed social anxiety
Right, that was when my mind was gradually polluted"

Emma Stone

I always remember Emma Stone for her role as Gwen Stacy in Spiderman. She might or might not have been one of my celebrity crushes growing up 😉 She went on to act in movies like La La Land and Zombieland, winning multiple awards in the process.

As a mental health advocate, Stone sits on the board of Child Mind Institute, and here’s what she said about managing her social anxiety:

I’ve been able to manage [my anxiety] with a great therapist and great cognitive-behavioral tools, meditation, and lots of things. So it’s so nice to know in those moments of real intensity that it will shift and it will change, and there’s a lot I can do to help myself.”

Apart from therapy, she also mentioned that she loves doing the following:

Discover new authors
Do 10 to 15-minute daily meditations
Do silly dances in her house
Write down her worrying thoughts on paper

Thomas Jefferson

The third president of the United States was posthumously diagnosed with social anxiety. John Adams, a fellow Founding Father, wrote about how Jefferson went to great lengths to avoid public speaking:

“Mr. Jefferson had been now about a Year a Member of Congress, but had attended his Duty in the House but a very small part of the time and when there had never spoken in public: and during the whole Time I sat with him in Congress, I never heard him utter three Sentences together.“

In his own words:

“My great wish is to go on in a strict but silent performance of my duty: to avoid attracting notice and to keep my name out of newspapers, because I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise.”

Despite his extreme avoidance of social anxiety, Jefferson was a skilled writer — I mean, the man wrote The Declaration of Independence!

Related article: Avoidance: how it makes social anxiety worse

Zhou Xun (周迅)

Recognized as one of the Four Dan Actresses of China — the most commercially successful Chinese actresses in the early 2000s — Zhou Xun has won both commercial and critical acclaim.

In a Chinese TV show, she shared that she experiences overwhelming social anxiety, especially when she attended the show.

Gandhi

Gandhi — one of the leading figures who freed India from the grips of British colonialism — experienced severe social anxiety. Even speaking at a small gathering was too frightening for him.

In his autobiography, he wrote:

“I hesitated whenever I had to face strange audiences and avoided making a speech whenever I could. Even today I do not think I could or would even be inclined to keep a meeting of friends engaged in idle talk.”

True to his principle of nonviolence, Gandhi came to accept his social anxiety, and even saw the quality positively:

“My hesitancy in speech, which was once an annoyance, is now a pleasure. Its greatest benefit has been that it has taught me the economy of words. I have naturally formed the habit of restraining my thoughts.

And I can now give myself the certificate that a thoughtless word hardly ever escapes my tongue or pen. I do not recollect ever having had to regret anything in my speech or writing.

I have thus been spared many a mishap and waste of time.”

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