CBS Presents: A Home For the Holidays at The Grove Red Carpet© GettyImages

Gloria Estefan shares why she decided to go to therapy

In a conference, Estefan talked about experiencing tough things in life and what pushed her to get help


Senior Writer
MARCH 16, 2023 3:17 PM EDT

Gloria Estefan is opening up about her mental health. At the 2023 Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston, Estefan candidly spoke about her mental health and the moment that pushed her to get help.

© GettyImages

Gloria Estefan at the 2023 Aspen Ideas conference

Yahoo! Entertainment reports that Estefan said that she’d never needed therapy until her mother died in 2017. Gloria Fajardo was 88 years old.

“ I understood therapy and I knew the value of it,” she said. “Despite the fact that I went through very difficult things in my life, I didn't feel I needed therapy at the time. I needed it after I lost my mom.”

“I think it is very important nowadays, as I see anxiety growing in our youth, that we focus on our mental health because there's a lot of information, a lot of negativity, a lot of difficult things. We have to learn to tune it out.”

Estefan also talked about the benefits of meditation and how it has helped her quiet the voices that inspire doubt and insecurity in life. She says that she tries to focus on the good things in life, like her family and her grandson. “He's 10 years old and is the light of my life and spending time with him is the most incredible thing for me,” she said. “So I put the phone away.”

She also talked about the bus crash she experienced in the year 1990 and how it impacted her life, forcing her to make changes and pull herself up by all means necessary. “One more millimeter and my cord would have been severed," said Estefan. "I couldn't turn over, I couldn't sit up. I couldn't be by myself.”

"And then I said, 'You know what? OK, that's enough. I've given myself enough of a pity party. What do I need to do?'"