EXCLUSIVE: Activist Tamika Mallory Shares How Pressure of 2017 Women’s March Ultimately Led to Her Xanax, Opioids Addiction

EXCLUSIVE: Activist Tamika Mallory Shares How Pressure of 2017 Women’s March Ultimately Led to Her Xanax, Opioids Addiction

Tamika Mallory is one of the leading organizers of the 2017 Women’s March — and her job wasn’t an easy one.

During an exclusive interview with theJasmineBRAND, the activist opened up about the pressures of having such an important role and how it ultimately led to her battle with addiction. According to Tamika Mallory, she struggles to get a good night’s rest, even to this day. She used to sleep peacefully, but the work she does — especially being a leader in such an important space — has tainted that.

In response to how her addiction battle started, she revealed,

“At the time during the Women’s March, obviously with everything I was going through, I was really just… depressed and dark, but I was also angry. Being misunderstood, lied on, dealing with white women all the time. I was really angry, it was so many things happening. So when it was time to go bed at night, I wasn’t resting.”

She continued,

“I was showing up to work [and] I started looking bad during the March planning… And I was telling someone else that I couldn’t sleep. And the person mentioned to me that they’d take this pill, and they’d sleep. And I was like, ‘wow, man, I would appreciate that.’ And they gave me one and I took it … that was Xanax. I went to the doctor and I got a prescription for Xanax.”

Tamika Mallory added,

“The Xanax wasn’t enough. The doctor wouldn’t increase the dosage. And then the next thing you know, I was in the process of taking the Xanax and opioids back to back just trying to figure out what to do. Anyone who’s ever been caught in the disease of addiction [knows] it just gets worse… It was just a nasty cycle of me just popping pills all day trying to numb my mind.”

She went on to say that it was stressful to have to respond to inquiries, be accused of stealing money, “lied on” in the media, have white women criticize their actions — and still have to be a logical decision-maker and supportive mother through it all. Fortunately, she has mastered the art of imposing boundaries, but at the time, it was difficult to be in charge of one of the most significant global campaigns for women.

During the interview, Mallory also opened up about Candace Owens using Kanye West and whether she believes the Donda artist is giving antisemitism. She said,

“I think that Kanye is upset because he lost his woman, and he’s trying to weaponize other communities to help him fight…his personal battle,” 

She continued,

“In one of the clips from the recent interview he did on ‘Drink Champs,’ he said ‘if y’all don’t want me to where white lives matter T-shirt….then the culture should get behind me when they take my child’….So now what you’re saying is we should be involved in your custody issues, your family business. How many Black men has Kanye helped that can’t see their children?”

 Jasmine Brand’s new talk show Brutally Honest airs every Monday night on Fox Soul.

What are your thoughts on what Tamika Mallory shared? Let us know in the comments!