Tamar Braxton on Mental Health: 'You Can Save a Life by Asking, 'Are You Okay?''

Welcome to Deep Dives, a new Health video series where inspiring people talk about a health topic that's meaningful to them and share relatable stories around health and wellness. Watch Tamar Braxton's Deep Dive above!

Tamar Braxton, 44, felt lost when she first noticed that her mental health was going downhill. "I started to get dark really, really fast, and I recognized that there was a problem," Braxton tells Health. "It got too thick and too foggy for me to just figure it out like I would have normally."

The singer got help, and these days, she's still working with an expert. "I am in counseling, and I used to go every day, but now I go a few times a week, which is a graduation," Braxton says. "I'm proud of myself for that."

Her mental health journey made her realize how necessary it is to normalize conversations about mental wellness. "I just felt like there was a need for a platform for someone like myself to openly speak about mental illness," she says. This realization led to the development of her podcast, Under Construction With Tamar Braxton. "I wanted to give people an opportunity to heal out loud and not be ashamed of their obstacles and not be ashamed to be in counseling or want to go to counseling," Braxton says.

Braxton hopes the podcast will make listeners understand that they aren't alone in their struggles. "When we're going through things, the main thing is feeling alone, and a lot of people don't have the strength or the courage to talk to people about the dark space they're in or experiencing," she explains. Her goal is to change lives by talking about mental health: "Sometimes, you can save a life by asking, 'Are you okay?'"

Watch the rest of Braxton's deep dive in the video above.