Celebrities like oprah treat the mentally ill like animals in a zoo. We are like exhibits to her. Something to point her cameras at and gawk at. Of course the whole thing is wrapped in this veneer of "raising awareness and reducing stigma"; but it's just a thinly veiled attempt to present herself as wise, compassionate, and in touch with the common man. I don't purport to be better than her; I'm a despicable person and a waste of life. However, what I can say for myself is that at least I'm genuine, and not doing things to further my image (not that I have one). Celebrities yammer on about mental health because it is gratifying for them and it strokes their ego. There is little to no interest in actually helping people - I mean ACTUALLY helping them. These people live lives of privilege and luxury, yet that's still not enough for them. They feel the need to depict themselves as paragons of virtue and compassion. Why, then, do they retire to a fancy dinner of lobster after spending a Lin afternoon in the slums of Mumbai, or hop on private planes back to their palatial estates after a day in Sudan? It's because what they love the pleasures that their riches bring them. That's fine - if I was rich I'd indulge in a life of luxury too. What bothers me is the constant virtue signaling.
"These are important issues." Yes, and?
"I've struggled with mental illness myself"...no, you haven't. You've felt sad and anxious sometimes. Those are normal feelings. But you don't know the degree to which those are magnified to a point of utter despair and hopelessness that sends you into a torpor for years or decades at a time. Your troubles are many orders of magnitude less than those who are truly suffering, and trying to graft that onto your persona in a bid for depth or integrity is, quite frankly, insulting.
"I care."...no, not really. There are many examples of those who do care, and they're not spending their time rolling in wealth, glorifying themselves through self serving projects, and lecturing the masses as if they're royalty addressing the commoners. Riches make people self important and grandiose, and then they couch their words and actions as virtuous and philanthropic in order to inflate themselves more.
At the end of the day, Oprah, prince harry, and all these other celebrities, after they've had their fill, leave us in our cages in the zoo and return to their huge mansions and lavish lifestyles, satisfied that they've helped the plight of the common man. But they've never actually done anything.