Cheryl “Salt” James got deeply personal while speaking at Bryant McKinnie’s Cocktails & Conversations, opening up about her family’s long and painful experience with mental illness and the silence that surrounded it for years.
During the conversation, the Salt-N-Pepa legend stressed that mental health struggles affect more people than many are willing to admit.
“We all go through stuff, you know, whether it’s seasonal, whether it’s chemical, you know, everybody’s going through something at any given point,” Salt said. “And I feel like you said it’s taboo. We don’t want to talk about it. We don’t want to be vulnerable.”
She then revealed that her brother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, sharing how difficult things became inside their home.
“My brother, I was raised with a brother who was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, which he was very violent,” she explained. “It was a lot of stuff that went on in the house for years and years.”
Salt admitted her family avoided getting help for far too long. According to her, the silence surrounding mental health later surfaced in other relatives as well.
“And they weren’t talking to each other. And it’s family,” she said. “If you guys would just talk to each other and share, you would not feel so alone because you’re not the only one going through it.”
The rapper also discussed participating in Mental Health Matters, a book featuring stories from 22 women sharing their mental health experiences.
“It’s a bigger issue than we wanna talk about,” Salt added. “I think it’s time to remove the stigma and the shame.”
While she didn’t elaborate on her brother’s condition today, Salt’s transparency reflected a much needed conversation within the Black community about mental illness and the struggle to seek help.
