Kelsea Ballerini felt like she could not celebrate her work until now due to previous mental health struggles
The 31-year-old country singer has been in therapy since she was 12 years old, and it has helped her cope with an eating disorder when she was a teenager, PTSD after seeing a classmate be shot dead in a school shooting aged 14 and, most recently, it guided Kelsea through her public divorce from Morgan Evans in 2022 after five years of marriage
3 April 2025
Now all of that is in the past and she has learnt more about herself, the star hopes she can now properly give her music the recognition it deserves.
She told PEOPLE magazine: "I'm very aware of my flaws. I have a relationship with them, and I do the work to keep growing up and growing out of certain things, but in the same breath, I fully accept and celebrate myself right now.
"I don't think I've ever been truly able to before because I had to go through life.
"You have to learn yourself before you love yourself - and I had learning to do.
"For so long I would have my shoulders tucked when I would be in the room with my peers.
"Women have to learn to own our success and celebrate ourselves."
Speaking about how therapy has been a "game changer" for her, she added: "There is still a stigma around talking about certain things, and the way that you take that stigma away is you create conversation."
The 'Love Me Like You Mean It' hitmaker began writing songs when she was 12 when her mom and dad Carla and Ed divorced, and Kelsea said "it became truly the safest thing in my life".
And when the five-time Grammy award nominee - who is now in a relationship with Netflix 'Outer Banks' actor Chase Banks - went through her divorce, writing music helped her get through the "intense" period.
She added: "I went back to writing songs simply because I had to.
"I was like, 'I have to get it out of me.' My intention putting it out was to show other sides of heartbreak - to have more narrative, especially for women, around life changes and divorce."
And Kelsea - whose self-exploration inspired her fifth studio album 'Patterns', which was released in October 2024 - now feels happier than ever with Chase by her side.
'The Voice US' coach said: "I had to shed some skin and make some tough choices and know that although things would be difficult for moments, it would make things so much better in the long run.
"I think it's running toward things that scare you and standing up for things you believe in and doing it all unabashedly.
"That's really been the biggest change in my life, just going, 'Rip the Band-Aid.'
"That's what I credit being happy and steady to."
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