At just 17,Debbie Gibsonsaw her wildest dreams come true when her song “Foolish Beat,” off her debut 1987 albumOut of the Blue, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the youngest female artist to write, produce and perform a single to hold that position (a record she still holds to this day).
Then the spotlight shone even brighter two years later, when Gibson released her sophomore albumElectric Youth. It spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart and sold 4 million copies.
But behind her bright smile and massive success, the ’80s teen queen was privately struggling with “adult pressures” that were placed on her.
Debbie Gibson.nick spanos
As Gibson dealt with the downsides of fame — suffocating crowds, stalkers and death threats — she started having panic attacks.
“I never wanted to complain,” she says. “I was a people pleaser, so God forbid anyone thought I was ungrateful. I’d always be like, ‘Oh, I’m fine. I can handle that.’ But I was masking my fear and anxiety and nervousness. It really caught up with me, and I started having full-on hyperventilating panic attacks.”
“I used to have that brown paper bag to breathe into with me all the time,” she continues. “At times I literally thought I was going to die.”
Debbie Gibson.Ebet Roberts/Redferns/Getty
When she was in her 20s, doctors put her on Xanax and Prozac to help her cope with anxiety and depression, respectively. She relied on them when she began experiencingundiagnosed Lyme symptoms— including food sensitivities, fatigue, night sweats and migraines — in 2013.
“When I was in the throes of Lyme and didn’t really know it, I’d take a Xanax to help me sleep,” she says. “It started wigging my body out and was triggering something to do with the Lyme, and my body couldn’t handle it.”
After seeking answers for nine months, she finally received an official Lyme diagnosis.
“By that point, it got into my neurological system, and I still deal with the repercussions from that,” says Gibson. “I’ll have weird nights where I feel like I drank three pots of espresso. I’ve come to a place where I’ve learned to expect the unexpected with my health, but I know I can get through it.”
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With her beloved dachshunds Joey, Trouper and Levi around to help keep her calm and healthy, she now manages her Lyme with homeopathic remedies and applied kinesiology. For her anxiety, she has her longtime therapist on speed dial, and she does yoga and acupuncture.
Plus, she’s been taking the advice she’d give to her younger self: “Don’t stress too much and take in the moments,” she says. “Growing up in show business, I felt like it was noble to run myself into the ground. Now I see life as an adventure.”
Debbie Gibson.Nick Spanos
Next up, Gibson will release her first studio album in 20 years,The Body Remembers, on Friday.
“When I went to do this album, there was a lot of life to draw from,” she says. “Nothing feels better as an artist than taking your pain and turning it into art and inspiration.”
She’ll then kick off a series of shows in Las Vegas with New Kid on the Block’s Joey McIntyre — who joined Gibson on a reimagined version of her 1989 hit “Lost in Your Eyes” for the new album — on Aug. 26.
“I grew up idolizing Donny and Marie Osmond, and I never thought that I might be a part of a Donny-and-Marie duo myself,” she says. “It’s a very special, unexpected gift in my career.”
Debbie Gibson and Joey McIntyre.Stephen J Cohen/getty
She also just wrapped an upcoming movie,The Class, with The Breakfast Club’s Anthony Michael Hall, has two original Broadway musicals in the works and hopes to head out on a new world tour.
“I feel like this is the album to take me on a journey,” she says. “I was the youngest person to do a bunch of things, and maybe now I’ll be the oldest person to do a bunch of things. Wouldn’t that be cool?”
“Electric youth, to me, is a state of mind,” she says, referencing her chart-topping second album. “As I get older, I find myself saying to people, ‘Stay eternally electric.'”
For all the details on Debbie Gibson’s life now, pick up the latest issue ofPEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.
source: people.com
