During a recent interview, Outer Banks star Madison Bailey opened up about living with Borderline Personality Disorder and making the decision share her diagnosis with the world.

“I feel like it’s such a huge part of who I am and I really do want people to be able to get to know me. I’m not shy, I thrive in transparency,” she explained while talking to Entertainment Tonight. “I think it’s really important to speak from a voice of, this is just something I’m going through, it’s not something that I know everything about. I’m figuring it out day by day on my own.”

She continued, “I got my diagnosis, and that’s what I needed — a word to call it other than ‘crazy.’ I got that and I figured it out. I started realizing my own triggers. They’re all different. Everyone’s different.”

When talking about her mental health, the actress admitted she’s “not a therapy person.”

“I’m very internal with the way that I like to deal with things, and I like to self-educate on a lot of things,” Madison said, which was something she did after being diagnosed at around “17 or 18.”

Now that she has a platform, the 21-year-old explained how she plans to use it to help others who may be going through the same things she is.

“There’s a lot of pros and cons to my disorder,” the actress said. “One of the main things is that likes and dislikes change often, so my aesthetic changes often. My music taste changes often.

She continued, “I have a very broad personality, which allows me to connect with a lot of people. Being sensitive was such a hard thing. That’s another one of the main components of this disorder — having an exposed nerve to every emotion and feeling. But it think the bright side of that is it allows me to connect with so many more people. I’m able to put myself in other people’s shoes easily, and deliver empathy with authenticity.”

Madison also explained how acting has been a “good outlet” outlet for her when it comes to living with the disorder.

“On days when it’s really hard to be myself, it’s really easy to be somebody else,” she concluded.

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Youth Crisis Hotline at 1-800-448-4663.

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