Mind Reading: ‘Under 30’ Alum Madison Beer Details Her Experience With Online Hate, Suicidal Thoughts In New Book

At age 13, Madison Beer was on her way to a burgeoning music career after Justin Bieber shared one of her videos on Twitter. Just a few years later, she was struggling with depression that began after nude photos of her were leaked on social media and spiraled amid an onslaught of online vitriol that culminated in her attempting to take her life when she was 19.

“When I first started out in the industry the main thing I was told was, ‘Have thick skin and don’t let them get to you.’ But I felt like I was lying to myself and my fans. It does get to me. It’s horrible to experience and I don’t think I should be sending a message to people that it’s fine,” she says.

“I don’t think that’s a fair thing to tell my young fans and I also don’t think it’s a fair thing to tell haters. They need to know—even though it’s exactly what they want, of course—that their words do hurt, and their words can kill.”