Q&A Link Copied 05.16.24

Bailee Madison Gets Candid About Her Mental Health While Filming ‘PLL’

“Adulthood really just slaps you in the face.” ByShannon Barbour

Photo Credit: Cibelle Levi

Bailee Madison has spent basically her entire childhood entertaining us, from starring in Just Go With It and Bridge to Terabithia to Wizards of Waverly Place and The Fosters. As an adult, she’s released music and has officially rebooted the Pretty Little Liars universe, with the summer school-themed Season 2 currently dropping on Max every Thursday through June 20. “Imogen had a lot of trauma last season, bless her heart. There’s a lot of healing that still needs to be done,” Madison tells Wondermind of her character, who will have a little identity crisis this season.

But how much do you really know about Madison as a person, when she’s not on screen or talking about her roles? Here, Madison shares how filming PLL has impacted her mental health, what helps her feel grounded, and what she’d tell her kid self trying to navigate the industry. 

WM: How are you doing lately? 

Bailee Madison: I'm doing good today. In the last five days, I've started doing breathwork in the morning before I get out of bed, which is something I've always wanted to do but have really struggled with because I find it really hard to be still and quite simply to breathe. I hold a lot in my chest and in my throat sometimes, so I'm trying to release that a bit more and just be still before I start my day. 

My mental health is a work in progress, as I think all of ours is. I think I'm way more intentional now with trying to recognize it and then also take care of it and give grace. … It’s constantly going to change, and my mind and my heart and my body are going to need new things as I continue to grow. 

WM: Have you noticed a difference since trying your breathwork?

BM: I actually feel more still and balanced. When I say five days ago, I was literally in New York for press, which is always so exciting but such a weird shift in who you are as a person. You go from being in your house with your dog to then outside with a bunch of strangers, and you're all glammed up and almost have this weird alter ego or identity crisis that you're constantly working through. 

I love nerves. I still get nervous with everything that I do, but sometimes nerves can transfer into fear. That's the thing that I don't want to be in my body. So I feel like it's helped me enter the day a bit more balanced. Even in workout classes in the past, I've been told, “You don't breathe.” … So I think it's a step in the right direction.

WM: You have a new season of PLL coming out, and there are some heavy themes throughout the show. When you film tough scenes or explore your character’s trauma and healing, what is that like for you as a person portraying these emotions and experiences?

BM: I definitely think I hold it in my body a bit. I find myself to be a slightly emotional person who can hold onto other people's energies and emotions. So for 19 hours a day, for nine months at a time, if you're playing someone who even within the joy still has those cuts inside—just like every human does—it's something that I'm cautious or thoughtful of even if it's not on the page or necessarily calling for it.

I was a lot more mindful this season of taking care of my mental health. Last season really put me through the ringer. I remember flying back from filming and my sister looked at me and was like, “You are 20% Bailey. I feel like you are still so deep into that world.”

I usually will do my best to get outside. I think that fresh air is a really important thing for me. Just trying to make the effort to feel the wind and ground myself and see the earth and be intentional with the fact that life is so precious too. 

Faith is [also] a really big part of my life. I found this little church up the street, and I would try to go whenever I could on Sundays and bring the cast members who wanted to come. 

And then distance is definitely a thing that plays into it. So on top of being emotionally attached to a character, you're then also going home to somewhere that isn't actually your home, and no one's really there to ground you or see you. That can sometimes be the most isolating part of filming. You're around a thousand crew members, and then you walk into your home at night and it's just kind of silent. That can play with my head. FaceTiming with my nieces or my sister, just anything to kind of grasp onto the reality that I know, I find to be really helpful.

We were filming in the summer [this time], and I noticed that made such a difference because we'd go watch the sunset at the park, we'd go get ice cream,  and my dog was with me. That was amazing. It's the little things that make the impossible seem a bit more possible. You just have to try to give yourself just those baby steps forward the best that you can.

WM: In January you released a song, “Kinda Fun,”which was inspired by your childhood. Do you mind sharing a little bit more about your relationship with music and what songs or artists feel like therapy to you? 

BM: I grew up on country music, but specifically always had worship music going on, and those are the songs that I will turn to. There's this one song that's six minutes long, and it's called “Build My Life” by Housefires, and that's my shower song. Some mornings when I'm like, I got to go to work. I might need a quick cry. I'm going to just put this song on and listen to it. And I always feel really grounded. It's those kinds of songs that I'll actually listen to before a scene just to try to ground myself and access my emotions. 

I think it's a really vulnerable experience for artists to put themselves out there. I have wanted to do music because I've played characters my whole life, and then I've only really had a few slivers of chances and interviews to show who I am and not necessarily what the character is. Whereas with music, most of the time artists are most authentically themselves and they're healing through their own experiences, through words, and through songwriting. That's something that I'm constantly searching for: How do I let my soul and myself be seen in the best way and in return have that also take some weight off of my shoulders? 

WM: When did you first start to learn about mental health, and have there been any time periods that have stood out to you in this journey?

BM: I would say the conversation probably started during the first season of the show. We were in Covid times, and we weren't allowed to have any visitors, and we were filming upstate and very much in the middle of nowhere. … I remember having this moment of: I'm doing a show that has always been a dream of mine, and I'm the happiest I've ever been. I'm also the lowest I've ever been. I didn't necessarily know what to do with that. I always try, I think, to find the joy and the positivity in everything, so it deeply upsets me if I feel like I'm more of a shell of a human. I think I had to start having those conversations on what made sense. From that point on, at my lowest, I was like, OK, we've got to start. And with that came a lot of reflection. 

I mean, there were times in my younger life on sets where things would happen, in family dynamics when I was eight or 11, or things that people say all the time in your childhood. You can say your childhood without disrespecting your childhood, I think. I had to understand that I could acknowledge things that might have dented me a bit and understand that there's beauty within that but still allow myself to be like, Oh, that's something that's not healed yet. That's something that's open that I might be taking with me that might be triggered by something. 

The last few months, I think I've just been working on using my voice a bit more, talking through it, and not being so upset if I'm having an off day. … It's a work in progress. I feel like I'm kind of at the edge of the cliff where things are about to start making a bit more sense. It's been a lot of tough questions, a lot of insecurities that come up, a lot of personal things, and a lot of growth. But I actually hold a lot of gratitude now for the uncomfortableness and for the quiet times or the isolating times. … I think I am the definition of a work in progress at the moment, but I am grateful to be doing the work and to have allowed myself to do it because that in itself was a step that I wasn't really sure that I was taking when I chose to take it.

WM: If you could give your younger self some advice, what would you say, and which version of yourself would you be talking to?

BM: I'd probably pick my 11-year-old self. There was a situation that happened when I was 11 that really just cut really deep. It made me question my faith at the time. It made me want to quit the industry at the time. The thing that I loved the most, it made me… I was really, really, really low. And I had just come off of, from 6 to 11, the most blessed little life of experiences. 

I would probably say to her that it's not her responsibility, first of all, but that I appreciate how much she cares about the people around her and how much she wants to give that love back. A person cannot define your success or where you're going—only you can. … You're about to embark on a journey that's fulfilling but is going to be heavy and confusing at times. Give yourself the best grace that you can. Know that the thing that you love will always be there, it's just going to be in different formulas in your life now. 

And don’t start the self-talk that maybe you're not good enough. Looking back, 11 on was maybe subconsciously when I started to be highly aware of the industry that I'm in and be highly aware of people's opinions. And then I had to go through my tweens with that and then my teenage years, and now I'm in my 20s. I just feel like there's an innocence that starts to be stripped away more and more. I would encourage her to really hold on tight to the child bravery that she had and the belief in herself. That's something that I'm really doing my hardest to bring back into my life right now, because I think life can dent you. When you're a kid, I don't know. There's this belief that things will be better and that you can be anything that you want to be and do anything that you want. And then adulthood really just slaps you in the face. So I want to carry her a bit more with me. 

WM: What message would you like to leave with readers?

BM: I hope that they love the show. I hope that it brings them a lot of joy. I will say we, as a cast, love doing the show. I think we're all in our early adulthood years, and the sisterhood that I've never had the pleasure to have before, I can actually have on this show. [I’m grateful] for reasons of me being a fan of the show itself, but then also selfish reasons of this is actually such a good thing for my soul and for my growth.

I do just want to say to unplug the best that you can. If you catch yourself scrolling and you're already aware of the fact that you're probably not in the best space that day, you really have to put it down the best that you can. … I'm a big fan of giving yourself grace and being like, You know what? I'm going to lay in bed all day. Just make sure that you do feel the air on you just a little bit. It's the little things, like getting out of bed, sitting outside. If that's all that you do, if that is your win, then you are winning so hard. 

Reach out to people. Never let yourself get to a point where alone feels like something that you can't get out of. There are people around you who do love you, even if it's one person. There's a stranger out there who actually is willing to extend a hand and walk you through it. I send all my love and the most understanding that I possibly could because we're all on a journey and our own chapter of life. … Big hugs, and just keep trying. You owe it to yourself. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.