'Southern Charm': Kathryn Dennis's battle with depression and anxiety strikes a hard-hitting note
'Southern Charm' star Kathryn Dennis disappeared on the show after being verbally attacked by her ex Thomas Ravenel’s new girlfriend Ashley Jacobs. Kathryn’s friends were extremely worried by her sudden disappearance and therefore, the Thursday’s episode was titled, ‘Gone Girl.’ It all started with Kathryn skipping a boxing class with Naomi Olinsa, who is unable to locate her. But by the end of the episode, she remerges at Danni Baird’s house, revealing it to her friends and the audience that she was diagnosed with anxiety and depression and that she completed rehab in California in 2016.
Here's how the episode unfolds:
Ecstatic about Kathryn's return, Danni exclaims: “I am so excited that you are actually alive right now! Oh my God, don’t ever do this to me again. Where the heck have you been, and why didn’t you respond to me, and why did you almost give me a heart aneurysm?"
To this Kathryn responds: “I don’t know, it’s really difficult to explain. With everything going on like the Ashley stuff, it’s just been a lot, and I felt like I literally just took a mental break and shut my phone off, locked myself in my apartment. It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t see anyone’s messages until like two days ago.”
“Which was a week!” says Danni.
“But nothing actually went on,” Kathryn responds. “I literally just shut off the world.”
Kathryn and Ashley don’t get along very well; their relationship took a serious blow when Ashley questioned Kathryn’s parenting skills.
In 2016, Kathryn lost custody of her two children Kensie (3) and Saint (18 months) to Thomas, after she tested positive for drugs. It was then that she entered rehab and began working on improving her life. Thomas on the other hand has been accused of sexual assault by two women, charges which he denied.
In the meantime, while her whereabouts were unknown, her friends got worried that Kathryn may have relapsed. “Kathryn, I swear to God, I did not know if you were alive. And it scared me to death,” Danni says.
“I know, but you have to understand, it’s difficult to explain to people that maybe don’t deal with depression,” Kathryn says, tearing up. “I have been on meds for a while now, dealing with depression. And as far as living sober and being happy that way, I’ve been doing well. I got a job now. I thought to myself, I don’t need these. So I just stopped taking them and I didn’t really realize how it would affect me, and it really did. It increased my anxiety. It increased my emotional response. And it snowballed. And I’ve been in a way kind of ashamed.”
Towards the end of the episode, Kathryn turns to the camera and says, “Getting this diagnosis gave me some relief as to why I was choosing, irresponsibly, to numb out those emotions. That being said, I now take anti-depressants.”
Thursday’s episode ended on a good note, but teasers for the next episode show that a storm between Kathryn and Ashley is on the horizon.
