Behind the Spotlight: Understanding Mental Illness Disclosure Patterns and Reasons Among Ghanaian Celebrities

Mental health, like physical health, is essential to overall well-being. However, the symptoms of mental health disorders, coupled with societal understandings of mental health, often lead individuals to keep their struggles private, hindering help-seeking behaviors. This study, guided by communication privacy management theory (CPM), examined how Ghanaian celebrities navigate the decision to disclose or withhold information about their mental illnesses. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews with 20 Ghanaian celebrities and analyzed using the phronetic iterative approach. Participants engaged in masked, sequential, and partial disclosure patterns. The findings reveal that disclosure is not a binary decision, but a continuum shaped by cultural, relational, and professional dynamics. These findings extend CPM by introducing new disclosure patterns unique to mental illness and celebrity contexts. The reasons why participants engage in these disclosure patterns include lack of trust, public image and reaction concerns, and fear of their mental struggles being downplayed. These reasons illustrate how concerns about reputational harm and past confidentiality shape the regulation of privacy boundaries among Ghanaian celebrities. The findings challenge assumptions about collectivist cultures, such as Ghana, by showing that individuals still maintain strong privacy boundaries around stigmatized health topics. It also expands CPM's applicability to celebrity and artistic contexts. Practically, the findings suggest that mental health professionals should develop culturally sensitive, trust-centered approaches that support gradual disclosure.