For the first decade of "MythBusters," hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman were joined by Kari Byron as an on-screen personality and active experiment participant. Or, as Byron explained in her memoir "Crash Test Girl," "My role was to be the happy girl, the one who could be relied on to laugh and squeal at gross things." That persona belied a serious mental health struggle: "No one on the show or in my wider social circles knew a secret I'd kept for some thirty years: I contend with severe bouts of depression."
Byron believes that her depression first presented when she was 12 years old, brought on by adolescent fluctuations in hormones. She wrote that she "kept [her] mouth shut and got really good at hiding [her] symptoms," including sadness, mood swings, and sleep difficulties. When the reality star reached her twenties, she sought medical assistance and received an official depression diagnosis and was prescribed medication to treat the disease, but found that the antidepressants didn't much alleviate her symptoms at first. The depression grew especially tough when it evolved into postpartum depression. For six months after the birth of her daughter, Stella, Byron endured that particular form of mental illness.
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
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