Tiffany Haddish says her old therapist found her funny: 'I don't need you laughing in my face'
Tiffany Haddish on mental health and how therapy gave her a different perspective on life.
Video Transcript
TIFFANY HADDISH: No matter what situation you're in or where you are, it's OK to be yourself. When I'm home, I'm pretty quiet. In the outside world, I'm like, [BABBLING]. But I get in the house, it's quiet time, time to recharge.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The first time I ever went to therapy, it was court ordered because I was in foster care. And there was a lot of trauma that was going on. My social worker was like, you got two choices. You can go to psychiatric therapy, or you can go to the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp. I was like which one got drugs? She said, you're definitely going to be on drugs if you go to therapy.
I was a pretty hyper kid. And I'm glad that I didn't take those medications at that time. So I chose the comedy camp. And then years later, I got 21, and I had, like, a breakdown, a full blown breakdown and went back into therapy. And that changed everything, gave me a different perspective.
The first therapist I had was pretty good. The next therapist I had would laugh at everything I had to say, which really upset me a lot. I get it. I'm a humorous person. But if I'm pouring my heart out, I don't need you laughing in my face. I had to find somebody that matched me more.
I like to journal when I get in my feelings, usually, before I go to bed because a lot of times, I have a hard time going to sleep when I'm, like, irritated with something that's happened in the day. Just taking a moment to just be quiet is really helpful. When I first wake up, I thank God that I woke up because everybody doesn't get to wake up. And I celebrate a little bit, like, yay. I did it. I woke up today.
Then I drink some regular water, and I take my Vitafusion gummy vitamins. I like the multi plus immune support and the multi beauty gummy vitamins because I want to be beautiful, and I need my immune system to be strong. Self-love means listening to your body and honoring that. If you're hungry, eat something. If you're happy, express that happiness. Share that happiness with others.
If you're upset, why are you upset? I wouldn't say, like, mope, and whine, and complain about it. But definitely express that you're displeased with something and move on. It's good to have my best friends. They're always great sounding boards. My team, I try to make it clear to them, look, I'm feeling some type of way about this. Can you hear me out on this? Maybe I'm crazy right now. Tell me if I'm tripping.
In the past, I would have just cussed everybody out. I try my best not to downplay how I feel about something. If I feel strongly about it, people are going to not feel strongly about it. If I'm uncomfortable in a situation, I think people should know that, hey, I'm uncomfortable right now.
Feelings are a compass. And when I push them to the side, that compass breaks. And then my mouthpiece gets very vicious and sometimes on people that don't deserve it.
If I did not have therapy now, I probably would be doing therapy in the streets. You understand? I'd be talking to a whole bunch of people about things I don't need to be talking to them about.
