Jake Paul defends tweet about anxiety after facing backlash: 'It's now spreading more awareness'
23-year-old says he's suffered from anxiety his 'whole life'
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Your support makes all the difference.Jake Paul has defended himself against criticism after facing backlash over a tweet he wrote about anxiety being "created by you".
On Monday, the YouTube star tweeted: “Remember anxiety is created by you. Sometimes you gotta let life play out and remind yourself to be happy and that the answers will come.”
“Chill your mind out. Go for a walk. Talk to a friend,” the 23-year-old advised his more than 3.7m followers in the since-deleted tweet.
In response to the advice, many people accused Paul of diminishing mental health issues by telling those who suffer with anxiety to simply “go for a walk”.
“This is actually really harmful,” one person responded to the social media star. “Anxiety can be incredibly physical as well as mental. Mental illness is not the fault of the sufferer.
“Please delete this, you are doing actual harm to your followers who very well may need to be seeking professional help for their problems.”
Another said: “Words by someone who doesn’t understand how crippling anxiety can be.”
Following the criticism, Paul defended himself on Twitter by suggesting that his initial tweet was helping people because it raised “awareness” of anxiety.
“Everyone clowning on my tweet but it’s now spreading more awareness about anxiety which I didn’t even know was a thing till I was 18 but had it my whole life and never knew how to deal with it,” Paul wrote.
He continued: “If you think you have it or wanna deal with it try reading this,” adding a link to a HealthLine article about 11 methods for coping with anxiety.
Despite attempting to clarify his reasoning, the YouTuber was also urged to delete that tweet as well.
“Nobody is ‘clowning’ on your tweet,” one person responded. “Your tweet is dangerous to your young impressionable audience. Anxiety is bad enough as it is, but now you’re trying to make it seem like it’s our fault that we feel anxious.
“It’s just so invalidating and shortsighted. You should delete it.”
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