Tessa Thompson's Commitment to Mental Health Advocacy Is Inspiring

Throughout her career, Tessa Thompson has fiercely advocated for mental health and overall wellness. Tessa has used her fame from Marvel films and other award-nominated movies to advocate for BIPOC women to get the health services they need to show up in the world the way they want.

More recently, it was her role as Bianca in Creed III that motivated Tessa to open up about the stigmas around mental health and therapy — and how important it is.

Here is what Tessa has said about mental health and wellness, and her own advice for those struggling.

In Creed III, the main character Adonis, played by Michael B. Jordan, goes to therapy to deal with past trauma. Tessa plays Adonis’ love interest in the film — and to prepare for the role they both went to therapy to get deeper with their characters.

“I think the moral of Creed III is that all people should go to therapy because it's something that I think really has helped Bianca, for example,” Tessa told Refinery 29 of her character. “She constantly reminds me to just stay in therapy, get into therapy, talk about your feelings. You don't always have to have it figured out. You don't always have to be tough. But I really liked the idea.”

In a recent interview, Tessa shared that along with promoting mental wellness, she hopes her films, especially in the Marvel Universe, inspire young people when it comes to LGBTQ representation.

“I think it’s really important for everybody, but for young people especially, to be able to show up to those movies and see projections of themselves,” she said during Variety’s Actors on Actors. “So I’m really excited that we’re able to continue to push the bounds of that and that I’m able to do that with Valkyrie. Because there’s so many cool queer characters in the comic books, and they should have a place on screen.”

As a talented actress who has played a variety of roles, Tessa has indeed brought attention to a lot of important issues, including the need for more representation of BIPOC actors and actresses, as well as mental health.

Tessa Thompson continues to use her platform for the greatest good, giving great exposure to many types of non-profit organizations. From coming out as sexually fluid to highlighting the need for everyone to attend therapy with a licensed counselor, Tessa has always used her fame to shed light on mental health and representation in the media.

This exposure does a lot to make therapy and being both BIPOC and a member of the LGBTQIA+ community normalized.