Kendall Jenner Spoke About Her Experience of Anxiety: "Sometimes I Think I'm Dying"

By Emily Dixon

May 7, 2021

london, england february 17 kendall jenner walks the runway during the finale at the burberry show during london fashion week february 2020 on february 17, 2020 in london, england photo by john phillipsbfcgetty images for bfc

John Phillips/BFCGetty Images

Kendall Jenner shared her experience of anxiety in a new video for Vogue.
Jenner spoke to clinical psychologist and psychology professor Dr. Ramani Durvasula.
"I've had times where I feel like I need to be rushed to the hospital because I think that like, my heart's failing and I can't breathe and I need someone to help me," the supermodel said of her panic attacks.
"Sometimes I think I'm dying. Sometimes parts of my body will go numb," Jenner added. "It can be really intense and scary."

In a new video for Vogue, Kendall Jenner spoke candidly about her anxiety, sharing her experience of "really intense and scary" panic attacks. Jenner discussed anxiety disorders with clinical psychologist and psychology professor Dr. Ramani Durvasula, in the first installment of Vogue's "Open-Minded: Unpacking Anxiety" series.

Jenner said her anxiety started in childhood, though she didn't recognize it as such at the time. "I remember being really young—I'd say like, 8, 9, 10, like around that time—and I remember having shortness of breath and going to my mom and telling her that," she said. "In hindsight, now I know that that was obviously anxiety."

"I think being overworked and like, being in the situation that I'm in now is kind of what set it out of control in a way," the supermodel continued. "I've had times where I feel like I need to be rushed to the hospital because I think that like, my heart's failing and I can't breathe and I need someone to help me."

"Sometimes I think I'm dying. Sometimes parts of my body will go numb. It can be really intense and scary," she said.

"There is going to be those people that say, 'Oh, OK, what does she have to worry about? What does she have to be anxious about?' And I’ll never sit here and say that I’m not fortunate. I know I live a very privileged, amazing lifestyle. I'm a very blessed girl," Jenner said, before pointing to her head. "I still have one of these."

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"I’m still a human being at the end of the day," she added. "No matter what someone has or doesn't have, it doesn't mean that they don't have real life feelings and emotions."

Jenner also said she feels anxious about returning to a more "normal" lifestyle as COVID-19 restrictions begin to lift. "If I go to a dinner or if I see a few more of my friends than I'm used to seeing throughout this last year, that gives me anxiety," she said.

Dr. Durvasula likened a too-rapid return to regular social life to the bends, or decompression sickness, a condition experienced by divers who return too quickly to the surface. "From this pandemic, if we go too quickly from being locked in to throwing ourselves right back out there, especially for people with anxiety, they're going to get the 'psychological bends,'" she said. "You have to ease yourself into it. We're all learning our skills again that we lost."