Janelle Monáe discusses growing up with “addicts” as parents
Janelle Monáe has discussed her relationship with drugs after growing up with parents who she describes as “addicts”.
Monáe, who is set to release her new album The Age of Pleasure on June 9th, revealed that she’s started to experiment with substances for the first time in recent years. Previously, she was put off from taking any drugs because her parents warned her that smoking weed could lead to “being a crackhead”.
“I grew up fearful of marijuana because I had parents who were addicts,” she explained to Rolling Stone. “They would always say, ‘Weed is the gateway drug to being a crackhead’ and I grew up with that in my mind and heart”.
After suffering from “anxiety attacks” during the Covid-19 pandemic, Monáe decided to try marijuana. She explained: “I was like, ‘We’re in the middle of a pandemic. I’m not on the road, let me test out weed’,” before stating she later sought out an “emotional support coach”.
Monáe later discussed the importance of mental well-being and explained how she struggled when the press run for Glass Onion coincided with the recording of The Age Of Pleasure. “In those moments, I have to have someone helping me work through my schedule, helping me not feel guilty about saying no to something, because all this affects your mental health”.
She added: “Not a lot of people have the luxury of saying or doing what it is I’m doing. I think that therapy, life coaching included, should be free for every American. There’s so many people walking around wounded emotionally. We would be better as a country, as a planet, if everybody had the access.”
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