Ariana Grande no longer wants to wear The Mask. But in her case it’s not the mask Jim Carrey wore in his famous film, it’s the mask of “the character [she’s] been trying to play.”
[Jim Carrey in The Mask]
In opening up to fans about her depression, Grande quoted the actor/activist/comedian Carrey, who once said: “Depression is your body saying, ‘I don’t want to be this character anymore. I don’t want to hold up this avatar that you’ve created in the world. It’s too much for me. You should think of the word ‘depressed’ as ‘deep rest.’ Your body needs to be depressed. It needs deep rest from the character you’ve been trying to play.”
Grande used the Carrey quote on Instagram to come clean about her own depression, and Carrey responded, telling Ariana: “I admire your openness. I wish you freedom and peace. I feel blessed to have such a gifted admirer.”
Grande has long loved Carrey. Her admiration dates back to long before she looked up to him as an advocate for mental health. The first medicine Grande took from Carrey was laughter — laughter is good medicine, after all. “My first AIM username was jimcarreyfan42,” Grande admits, “when I was in like 4th grade.”
