When First Lady Michelle Obama, Kerry Washington and Sarah Jessica Parker are together, you know something powerful is about to happen.
The trio covers the May issue of Glamour magazine looking better than ever. Even though Glamour magazine is known for talking about fashion and beauty, these women are doing more than just that. Michelle Obama, Kerry Washington and SJP are teaming up to raise awareness about military families.
Check out what they had to say:
Kerry, on diminishing the stigma of mental health: “I think it’s really important to take the stigma away from mental health…. My brain and my heart are really important to me. I don’t know why I wouldn’t seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth. I go to the dentist. So why wouldn’t I go to a shrink?”
Sarah Jessica, on the issues female veterans face: “I feel like there’s a laundry list of issues they face…. Being a working mother, serving, returning from Iraq or Afghanistan—I almost don’t know where to begin…. And I feel intimidated by their service; I feel ashamed that I haven’t served. So I almost feel like I’m patronizing by inquiring how to help. When you see a serviceman or -woman, you always—I always—say, ‘Thank you for your service.’ But you know that’s not enough…. What do we do? Every community has a community of veterans. Where do we begin?”
First Lady Obama, on the importance of asking for help: “I never try to come close to comparing my life to these women’s lives. But, if you think about it, when you [have] a spouse who travels or is away a lot, women do adapt…. The challenge is when the missing spouse comes back and they’re trying to reintegrate into a well-oiled machine…. How do you let yourself become vulnerable when you don’t know when that call will come, and they’ve got to [go away again]?… And many of these women are young. When I was going through this [when President Obama got into politics], I was in my thirties, I had my career, and I had family with me. I [try to] put myself in the place of some of these young women—maybe they’re in their twenties, they have their third kid, they’re not established in their careers, they’re miles away from their family—and imagine the stresses. So my advice is, ask for help. Keep asking. Because that’s the only way I survived. My women friends—how we get through is we reach out.”
