Iyanla Vanzant Reveals What She Learned After Trying to Commit Suicide

Iyanla Vanzant is usually the one trying to get people to open up about their past, but she recently revealed how she tried to commit suicide. During a recent interview with OWN, Vanzant revealed that after she had her third child at the age of 21, she dealt with postpartum depression.

"I took a bunch of pills. I was in the kitchen, on the floor, and I could feel myself losing consciousness," Vanzant said. But then she gained a moment of clarity and heard a message from a higher power asking if she really wanted to die.  

"In that moment, I saw what I believe to be the Divine Mother. She said to me, 'Do you really want to die?' And I said, 'No. I just don't want to hurt anymore.' "

Vanzant was admitted into a psychiatric ward, and there she learned about what matters in life and how she has the ability to turn her life around. 

"What I learned to believe is that I matter. Life matters. God is all, and where I put my heart and my intention, that is what I'm going to experience," Iyanla said. "I learned in that eight weeks that I have the power to rebuild, restructure, redefine, re-create my life because my mind is one with God's mind. I learned that in the nuthouse. Pretty crazy, huh?"

It's definitely a message worth sharing, considering how far Vanzant has come since that time in her life, and how she's now helping those in need overcome their darkest moments. 

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Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.

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