Sia opens up about her depression after 2016 divorce

A smiling woman with long blond hair and bangs, wearing a light gray blazer

By Jonah ValdezStaff Writer

Sept. 15, 2023 3:57 PM PT

Sia recently opened up about a dark period of her life following her split from ex-husband Erik Anders Lang in 2016.

“I got divorced and that really threw me for a loop,” the singer said this week on Zane Lowe’s Apple Music Beats 1 podcast. “That one was such a dark time that I was in bed for three years, really really severely depressed, and so I couldn’t really do anything for that period of time.”

In the rare interview, the “Unstoppable” artist, whose full name is Sia Furler, discussed her upcoming album, “Reasonable Women,” which has been more than six years in the making. And she said production of the album happened only after she was able to process her depression after her two-year marriage to Lang.

Sia, 47, and Lang, 42, a documentary filmmaker, married in August 2014 at a Palm Springs ceremony after keeping their dating relationship private. In December 2016, the couple announced their divorce, with a spokesperson for the Grammy winner commenting that the pair were “dedicated to remaining friends,” according to TMZ.

Even after her three-year period at a standstill, as she and producers started to chip away at her new album, Sia said, “It was really hard to get me out of bed.

“And then finally, it just turned out we had enough songs to make an album, enough good ones,” Sia said, chuckling. “Gimme Love,” which dropped Tuesday and is the first single off her upcoming album, was rooted in another dark time, during the pandemic shutdowns of 2020, while she was living in her Palm Springs home with producer Jesse Shatkin and other collaborators.

The “Titanium” singer described her mood as “really lazy” during those days while shut in, still mostly stuck in her bedroom, where she had shows and films projected on the ceiling, allowing her to watch while lying down.

“I was like mainly just like laying there, not engaging any muscles, watching television, sort of like just zoning out, and then I would go across to Jesse’s little unit, and this was just one that blurpled out,” she said, describing her creative process.

Lowe interjected, addressing the progression of Sia’s mental health since her depression.

“I’m kinda impressed, and also mortified for you at the same time,” he said. “I think seeing you now in such a good place — and hearing the music be so wonderful, and knowing that we have a whole life ahead of us — makes me smile about it, but at the same time, I kind of want to cry about it.”

This past May, the Australian hitmaker married boyfriend Dan Bernard in a quiet ceremony in Portofino, Italy, People reported. In a 2020 InStyle interview, she revealed that she is raising two sons whom she adopted from a group home in 2019.

Sia rose to fame in 2011 with DJ David Guetta’s song “Titanium,” which featured her vocals. She also lent her talents to Rihanna‘s track “Diamonds.” In 2015, she released the album “1000 Forms of Fear,” which included the hits “Chandelier” and “Elastic Heart.”

The singer is known for her vocals, that platinum-blond wig and her collaborations with “Dance Moms” alum Maddie Ziegler, including her controversial feature directorial debut, “Music.” In 2020, Sia faced backlash for casting Ziegler, who is not autistic, as a nonverbal autistic teen in the film. Twitter users criticized the singer for not casting an actor with autism for Ziegler’s part.

In a since-deleted tweet, Sia addressed the criticism, noting she had “never referred to [the character Music] as disabled.”

“Special abilities is what I’ve always said, and casting someone at her level of functioning was cruel, not kind, so I made the executive decision that we would do our best to lovingly represent the community,” she said.

“Music” went on to score two Golden Globe nominations.

“Reasonable Women” is scheduled for a spring 2024 release.

Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.