Kesha admits fame can be ‘crazy-making’

Kesha admits fame can be ‘crazy-making‘ having lived in the public eye for 14 years.

The American singer-songwriter ‘Blah Blah Blah singer’, 36, says she has lived in the spotlight since her early 20s and feels like every part of her being has been examined by others.

“I’ve lived in the public eye since I was 22. I’ve had people dissect every part of me. And it can be embarrassing. It can be crazy-making.”

Kesha’s SELF profile said she found herself facing feelings she had long avoided dealing with during the Covid lockdowns, and added her recent track ‘Living in my Head’ focuses on “the criticism she’s internalised over the years” and was written “in the throes of a panic attack”.

The ‘Blah Blah Blah singer’ – who goes to regular therapy sessions – added her acupuncturist told her she needed to release her pent-up anger by going somewhere to scream.

She said: “I’ve never, ever been in touch with my anger, and my acupuncturist told me, ‘You need to go on a mountain and scream.’

“I was like, ‘No, I really don’t feel angry.’”

The 36 year-old followed the acupuncturist’s advice and realised she had pent-up anger, which also woke her up to the fact she needed healthy ways to regularly release the “pressure valve” on her rage.

SELF said she practices ninjutsu as one of her coping mechanisms.

Kesha added about how performing helps release bottled up emotion: “There are still moments when I absolutely want to slap a bunch of wild makeup on, put a wig on, put the heels on, and throw a cape on. It’s fun.

“That’s the reason I did it in the first place! I didn’t quite think it was going to be so etched in stone as who I am.”

Kesha and Dr. Luke Settle Defamation Lawsuit After Decade-Long Legal Battle

Dr. Luke sued Kesha for defamation in 2014 after the singer accused the producer of sexually assaulting her.

In October 2014, Kesha filed a lawsuit against Dr. Luke in a California state court. In the lawsuit, Kesha alleged that the producer sexually assaulted, battered, and harassed her in 2005. She also asked to have her contract with Dr. Luke’s label, Kemosabe Records, voided. Immediately following Kesha’s lawsuit, Dr. Luke sued Kesha in New York for defamation—the lawsuit that remained standing until today.

In the original complaint, Dr. Luke and his lawyers wrote: “As part of the effort to get out of the Gottwald Recording Agreement, Kesha and [her mother, Pebe Sebert] have also orchestrated a campaign of publishing false and shocking accusations against Gottwald to extort Plaintiffs into letting Kesha out of the Gottwald Recording Agreement.”

In 2016, Kesha dropped her California lawsuit in order to continue pursuing legal action in New York. The following year, she released Rainbow, her first album since the lawsuits were filed. The album was released via RCA Records and Kemosabe Records, as Kesha had been unable to get out of her contract. Kesha did not, however, have to work with Dr. Luke on the full-length.

The defamation lawsuit took many twists and turns over the course of its nearly nine years. Notably, for much of the case, Dr. Luke was not considered to be a public figure, meaning that he had a lower bar to clear in order to prove that Kesha defamed him. Just last week, New York’s highest state court ruled that Dr. Luke would, indeed, have counted as a public figure for the purposes of the case.