Hayley Williams Writes an Essay on Her Mental Health and the Dark Moments She Has Experienced

Lead singer of Paramore, Hayley Williams gets real about mental health in her essay for Paper Magazine.

Williams starts off this real, no bullsh*t essay by setting the scene that started it all. It was the Summer of 2015 and Hayley was newly and happily engaged and had just moved back home to Nashville from LA. She was dreaming of a hopeful future with her husband where everything slowed down, with kids, and another Paramore record. However, everything did not work out in the way she envisioned.

Williams turns this moment where her life began to change for the worse into a metaphor in which she was a little girl in a colorful dress who was dancing and twirling, when all of sudden someone pushes a piano out of the window, letting it fall, and crushing the once happy girl underneath. All of Hayley’s intense feelings came from losing a valuable band mate, financial issues, and the heartbreaking end of her engagement. Williams stated that she didn’t eat, sleep, or laugh for a very long time. It took a long period of time for Hayley to return to normalcy and a state of healing.

Luckily, her mom says that she finally has ‘her old laugh back’. Williams hopes that her essay will help others in any way that it can, whether you are struggling with mental health, depression, or are just going through a low point in life. Her comforting words exude hope and show that there are better days ahead even when it may not feel like it.