Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio’s daughter Chiara admitted in a video posted Tuesday to substance abuse and years of battling depression.
In the five-minute YouTube clip, the 19-year-old college student said she had clinical depression for her entire adolescence, and alcohol and drugs helped her deal with those issues.
“It made it easier, like the more I drank and did drugs, to share some common ground with people that I wouldn’t have,” she said.
“It didn’t start out as a like a huge thing for me, but then it became a really huge thing for me.”
She said she thought her problems would go away in college, but admitted to drinking and smoking weed while there.
A therapist helped her by referring to her an outpatient treatment center in New York City.
Now sober, Chiara said she wanted to share her personal story in the hopes of helping others.
“As parents, our instinct has been to protect our daughter and privately help her through a deeply personal struggle. But not only has Chiara committed to her own health, she is also committed to helping young people everywhere who face similar challenges,” the mayor-elect and his wife said in an emailed statement that linked to the video.
“Her courage to speak out demonstrates a wisdom and maturity far beyond her 19 years, and we are grateful every day for her commitment to lifting up those who need to know that they are not alone.”
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