Kim Petras Says She Needed Therapy After ‘Unholy’ Success: It ‘Felt Exposing and Scary’

Kory Grow
·2 min read
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Kim Petras. - Credit: Gina Wetzler/Redferns
Kim Petras. - Credit: Gina Wetzler/Redferns

When “Unholy” reached Number One in the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries, Kim Petras’ life changed overnight. The success of the song, which she recorded with Sam Smith, led her to travel more to make appearances, and suddenly, “there were more eyeballs on me than ever before,” she told Cosmopolitan U.K. The sudden success “felt exposing and scary,” she said. So she turned to a therapist for help.

“Therapy was also necessary for me after having a huge song, to learn how to shut everything off,” she told the magazine. “I had therapy in my teen years and stopped when things got busy. But I missed having someone to let everything out to. I recommend therapy to everyone; it’s an essential tool … The music industry can get very hectic.”

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She also trusted in Smith, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, to help her make sense of sudden fame. “Sam’s such a wonderful person and has been my coach in a lot of ways,” she said. “If I feel in a crisis or read something about myself that I can’t deal with, I’ll text or call them. That level of media attention is really scary; it forced me to grow as a person, and it’s so inspiring to see Sam be able to brush that off.”

With time, she told Cosmopolitan, she was able to adapt to a fuller schedule. In the past year, she performed at the Brits, on Saturday Night Live, and at the Grammy Awards, where she and Smith claimed the trophy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Unholy.” “I’m learning to have a private life I can treasure,” she said. “I always wanted to be a robot, [glamourizing] the life of a pop star who will show up and do whatever it takes. … I’m just trying to keep doing what feels right for me.”

Last month, Petras released a new EP, Slut Pop Miami, a companion to her 2022 Slut Pop EP. She also released two albums last year, Feed the Beast and Problématique. Her only tour dates so far this year are in Europe.

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