Noah Kahan opens up about his body dysmorphia and mental health struggles: 'Wasted so much time hating who I am'

Marina WattsTue, April 7, 2026 at 5:29 PM UTC

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Noah Kahan in Frisco, Texas in May 2024Credit: John Shearer/GettyKey Points -

Noah Kahan is getting candid about his mental health and body dysmorphia struggles.

The Grammy-nominated singer says sometimes there are moments where he wishes he "didn't feel depressed."

Kahan's documentary Out of Body premieres on Netflix on April 13.

Noah Kahan is confronting his mental health and body image.

During an April 6 appearance on Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast, the Grammy-nominated artist spoke about how fame affected his mental health and his body dysmorphia ahead of his Netflix documentary Out of Body premiering on April 13. When asked if his mental health got better or worse as he became successful, Kahan said his "mental health challenges weren't going anywhere."

"Whether I became a musician, like a touring professional musician or whatever I am, they weren't going anywhere," Kahan admitted. "I would have been interested to see how they manifested. I think it's introduced this lifestyle, and this level of self-focused business lifestyle has created a lot of mental health challenges for me."

"Also has kind of allowed me to confront them in a way that maybe like if I went to college and went and got a job in an office or somewhere I could probably more easily not ever deal with it," he added.

"In a lot of ways, I think it's helped me, but it's also introduced a lot of different challenges into my life." Among those challenges are touring, performing, and the "creative struggle" of the music industry.

Noah Kahan in Los Angeles in February 2025Credit: Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty

As for his day-to-day mental health, Kahan said he thinks about his self-image, which "extends to physical image but also mental image."

"I worry that I’ve just wasted so much time hating who I am," the "Stick Season" singer said. "Being aware of this thing that's happening to me that feels like it's grinding me down sometimes and knowing that I have this thing and that knowing that it could be better but it's not right now."

"Like I wake up and I’m like, ‘Why do I feel like s--t?’ I’m pissed. It's a beautiful morning. The birds are f---ing chirping. It’s beautiful outside. Career success aside, I have this lovely little life, and I wish I could wake up and not be miserable for no reason, it feels like, sometimes," Kahan added. "Being aware of those moments that I just can’t feel connected, it's really lonely."

Kahan said that these feelings "escalate" and can become bigger mental health issues for him. Though there are days that can be better, Kahan said there are moments where he wishes he "didn't feel depressed."

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Elsewhere in their conversation, Shetty also brought up body dysmorphia, which Kahan addresses in the documentary. Kahan notes that he "never really confronted" how he felt about his body before. "It's like it's just this thing that lives in the back of my brain that is like more prominent than other times."

"It really came out in the documentary, and watching that back is like, even my mom was just like, I had no idea," he continued. "I think she knew I had something like that, but she didn’t know how much it was affecting me, and even just seeing myself, I'm like, I don't feel like that right now, but I do feel like that a lot and it’s hard when the thing that you really compartmentalize and you lock away is now there."

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The "Dial Drunk" singer said that he hadn't spoken a lot about body dysmorphia in the past because he didn't want to misrepresent how others are feeling. He called it a "difficult concept" to "describe succinctly."

In Kahan's song "Shape of My Shadow," he talks about his self-image, and upon performing it live, he realized the impact it had on other people. "This is something really, really difficult to articulate and to talk about, and the fact that I just had three people that probably wouldn’t have said anything to me if I never played that song come up and say, ‘Hey dude, thank you’ or ‘I get that,’ that’s huge. It was really special."

"You never f---ing know what someone's going through," Kahan concluded.

Check out Noah Kahan's full conversation with Jay Shetty below.

Out of Body premieres on Netflix on April 13.

If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

on Entertainment Weekly

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