Cruel intentions: how toxic tabloids and celebrity culture changed the way we talk about mental health

If you opened up a magazine in the 2000s, you'd likely be met by countless images of celebrities on their worst days. And the conversation accompanying those images? Pretty toxic.

We've come a long way in how we talk about mental health since then, but how did we get here? What changed?

Today, we reflect on the cruelty of tabloid culture and how the internet shifted the narrative about mental health.

If you want to hear more about our relationship with celebrities, check out our episode Moog became a Youtube megastar — and it messed with his mental health.

Guests:

Jo Piazza
Author and host of Under the Influence

Sophie Gilbert
Staff writer for The Atlantic
Author of Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves

Dr Jessica Ford
Lecturer in Media
University of Adelaide

Professor Nick Haslam
University of Melbourne

Clinical Professor Jonathan Shedler
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences
University of California

Hadley Meares
Hollywood historian

Matthew Suarez
Author of Paparazzi Daze: Celebrity Encounters

David Kamp
Contributing Editor
Vanity Fair Magazine

Credits:
Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
Reporter/producer: Jennifer Leake
Producer: Rose Kerr
Senior producer: James Bullen
Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite

You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on the ABC Listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.