In the therapy room, the stories we hold are sacred. Yet when healing stories become public, something powerful happens — stigma starts to fade. Over the past few years, a growing number of public figures have opened up about using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy to process trauma, grief, and anxiety.
As a clinician, I’ve watched with appreciation (and at times, relief) as these disclosures have invited more open conversations about what trauma healing actually looks like. EMDR isn’t trendy self-help — it’s a well-researched, neurologically informed method of helping the brain and body integrate experiences that once felt unbearable.
Let’s look at how several well-known figures have described their EMDR journeys — and what their stories reveal about courage, healing, and the universality of trauma.
Prince Harry: Facing the Unprocessed Grief
Prince Harry publicly shared his EMDR journey in the Apple TV+ series The Me You Can’t See, allowing cameras to capture parts of a real session. He used bilateral stimulation — tapping on his shoulders — while revisiting triggers connected to the loss of his mother, Princess Diana.
He explained,
“You’ve sometimes got to go back and deal with really uncomfortable situations and be able to process it in order to heal.”
From a therapeutic standpoint, that statement captures EMDR’s essence: not erasing memory, but transforming its emotional charge. Harry’s openness helped millions see that trauma doesn’t discriminate — and that healing requires conscious engagement with pain, not avoidance.
Sandra Bullock: Restoring Safety After Terror
After a frightening home invasion in 2014, Sandra Bullock experienced intense fear and hypervigilance. She later shared that EMDR became a lifeline:
“The break-in happens and I discover something called EMDR therapy, which was the most healing. I was so scared to do it.”
During her sessions, memories of the break-in connected with earlier life moments of feeling unsafe — a common experience in trauma work. EMDR helped her nervous system re-establish a sense of safety that fear had stolen.
Clinically, this is one of EMDR’s most remarkable qualities: it can identify the roots beneath a single event, linking present symptoms to older, unresolved experiences. Healing becomes systemic rather than situational.
Evan Rachel Wood: Integration and Emotional Release
In 2019, Evan Rachel Wood posted a photo after an EMDR session, writing,
“Crying has never felt so good.”
She spoke about how EMDR helped her connect to buried emotions and release long-held pain. What she describes — a “lightness,” a sense of integration — is familiar to many clients when previously fragmented pieces of their story begin to align.
Her experience underscores EMDR’s ability to do more than reduce distress; it restores coherence to a person’s narrative, allowing self-compassion to replace self-blame.
Whitney Cummings: Rewiring Old Beliefs
Comedian and writer Whitney Cummings has said,
“EMDR saved my life.”
She used it to address early childhood trauma and patterns of emotional dysregulation. For someone whose career depends on intellect and wit, EMDR’s somatic and bilateral focus offered a route beyond analysis — straight into the body’s implicit memory.
From a clinical lens, EMDR often helps clients who have already “talked about it” for years but still feel stuck. By engaging the body’s sensory processing, EMDR allows new neural pathways — and new self-beliefs — to emerge.
Jameela Jamil: Releasing the Fear Loop
Actor and advocate Jameela Jamil has described EMDR as “taking your trauma from you like a thief in the night.” She’s spoken openly about using it to address PTSD and body-image trauma, crediting it with a renewed sense of peace.
Her honesty shines a light on how EMDR isn’t limited to a single trauma event; it can address chronic, cumulative stress that shapes how we see ourselves. In this way, EMDR isn’t just about desensitizing memories — it’s about reclaiming identity.
Miley Cyrus: Reconnecting with the Inner Child
In interviews, Miley Cyrus has said that EMDR helped her heal from early fame, family dynamics, and stage anxiety — even describing one session as a train ride through her life.
“Love it. Saved my life.”
After completing EMDR, she reported never experiencing stage fright again. Her story highlights EMDR’s reach beyond traditional trauma treatment — it can transform patterns of self-protection and performance that trace back to childhood.
Why These Stories Matter
As a clinician, I find these narratives profoundly hopeful — not because celebrities have access to healing, but because their visibility helps normalise the human experience of trauma.
Here’s what their stories teach us:
Healing isn’t linear. EMDR can bring intense emotions before relief arrives. That’s normal — the brain is reorganising its understanding of danger and safety.
Therapy doesn’t erase the past. It changes how the past lives in the body.
Public vulnerability has power. When people with large platforms share about trauma therapy, it opens doors for others to seek help without shame.
EMDR is both science and compassion. Decades of research confirm its efficacy for PTSD, anxiety, and depression — but its heart lies in helping people reconnect with themselves.
The Research Behind the Stories
Meta-analyses show EMDR produces moderate to large reductions in PTSD, anxiety, and depression symptoms, often in fewer sessions than traditional talk therapy. Neuroimaging studies suggest EMDR changes activity in the amygdala and hippocampus — regions linked to fear and memory processing.
In other words, what clients feel as emotional integration has a physiological basis: the brain literally re-files old memories so they no longer activate the body’s threat response.
Closing Thoughts
Every story shared above — royal, Hollywood, or otherwise — reflects a truth I witness in my own practice: healing requires courage, not perfection. EMDR offers a path for the nervous system to finish what trauma interrupted — safety, coherence, and connection.
Whether you’re processing grief, anxiety, or long-buried memories, you deserve that chance too. If any part of these stories resonated, consider it an invitation to explore what healing could look like for you.