Actress Julie Tan on her mental health journey and inner work

Julie Tan is the most spiritually awakened celebrity I have ever met. 

For starters,  she doesn’t want to talk about her work. In fact, our conversation dives deep into her mental health journey and personal growth. 

The 30-year-old actress may be in the public eye, but her heart is firmly set on nurturing her privacy — a feat for someone with over 260,000 followers.  “In the last two years, I’ve discovered responsible sharing. You can share about your daily life. But if you keep bearing yourself to the world, you’ll never know if one of these things will come back and bite you. In this world of oversharing, we need to learn to keep some some things for ourselves.” 

Julie has redirected her focus to helping others do their inner work. “When it comes to our generation, where social media is so accessible, we are equipped with the skillsets and understanding that we can break generational trauma. It all starts from ourselves. This awareness is more important than being a good actor, because you need to be a good person before you can be anything else.”

I ask how her journey affects her career. “It’s painful, because I work through pain. Understanding our trauma and our baggages is actually the hardest thing to do. Overall, I would say that it’s been great. Because I think I really found myself through all the pain and sleepless night.” What makes her inner work all the more admirable is that she doesn’t see a therapist. 

Julie has learned to slow down over the past few years. “I realised that life is not a race. It is a marathon. I don’t have to rush. I can walk my own pace. People asked why I left Mediacorp at my peak, and that I should be doing more for my career. But that’s not  what I want. I felt like I needed to find myself first. And that’s when I decided to slow down my pace, and focus on healing.”

Julie is now keeping busy with two things: She is writing scripts and knee-deep in the process of creation, and is passionate about golf. “It’s a form of therapy, but I also feel like it’s similar to acting. Each time I play golf,  I understand my body and mind a little bit more. Golf is my meditation.” 

Fashion direction Johnny Khoo
Videography Andrew Goh
Fashion Styling Jacquie Ang
Hair Sean Ang
Make–up Grego Oh

Outfit Ralph Lauren 

Note:

The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.

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