In a video for the It Gets Better
campaign, singer Gloria Estefan reveals that she once considered
“checking out.”
“I went through some tough times,”
Estefan says. “I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. I
wanted to be strong for my mom, but deep inside I was crumbling. And
there were many a time that I thought that the easiest way would be
just to check out.”
The Grammy-winning singer adds that her
family kept her strong and urges troubled gay teens considering
suicide to hang in there.
“Thoughts can create reality and when
you make your thoughts strong and positive you can create the life
that you want for yourself.”
“Believe in yourself,” she adds.
“And it will get better. I promise you.” (The video is embedded
in the right panel of this page.)
The It Gets Better campaign is the
brainchild of sex advice columnist and activist Dan Savage, who
launched the project by uploading a video on YouTube. Savage
announced Wednesday that the collection of videos which urge troubled
gay teens to get help had swelled to 20,000, with over 10 million
views.
Other celebrities and high-profile
politicians who have created videos include President
Obama, Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton, New
York Governor David Paterson, Fort
Worth Councilman Joel Burns, rocker
Adam Lambert and actor Neil
Patrick Harris.