Emman Atienza’s death reveals harsh truths: Mental health is that one battle which defeats fame, wealth or success

Dubai: Let’s be clear: mental health doesn’t check your last name before it enters a room. It doesn’t pause because your father is a television personality, your grandfather a politician, or your future seemingly golden. It is the great equaliser — silent, relentless, and unmoved by privilege.

The death of 19-year-old Emmanuelle “Emman” Atienza — a young woman born into influence, educated in elite institutions, and open about her own struggles — is no longer just a personal tragedy. It is a national wake-up call.

Privilege is not protection

Emman didn’t fit necessarily fit the convenient narrative of someone “at risk.” She was surrounded by family, resources, therapy, even advocacy networks. She wasn’t hiding her mental health battles; she was vocal, articulate, and actively trying to help others. She founded Mentality Manila, a youth movement for mental health awareness. She was studying in Los Angeles, pursuing art and design. And yet, she still lost her life to suicide.

Because awareness is not immunity. Access is not cure. Visibility is not safety. Mental illness does not negotiate — not with class, not with fame, not with family background.

But here's the reality: We like to applaud people who “raise awareness,” but what we often do is outsource emotional labor to them. Young voices like Emman become accidental mental health ambassadors. They don’t just speak for themselves — they become sounding boards for thousands. Every post becomes a lifeline for someone else. But lifelines, too, fray under pressure.

There is a difference between speaking about mental health and surviving it.

And when a person becomes both advocate and patient — while also being hyper-visible online — the pressure is inescapable.

Fame doesn’t dilute trauma — It amplifies it

Let's also talk about the occupational hazard we face as journalists who write about such grim and macabre news. They often become a statistic to us. In the heat of getting the tragedy up online first, we forget to care and that reality bites after we get all the clicks and adrenaline rush subsides!

But my job often places me on a raw nerve — sitting opposite celebrities as they unravel their deepest truths. Pop idol Jason Derulo once told me he lost the will to fight after a spinal injury left him unable to walk or shower alone. Deepika Padukone described mornings when the weight of depression made waking up feel unbearable. Tanushree Dutta named her predators and described an industry that looked away.

These are not headlines — these are dents in the human psyche. And Emman was part of that same fragile ecosystem: visible, articulate, praised for her honesty — and still deeply alone in the quiet corners of her mind.

When the story followed me home

The day I covered Emman’s death was already heavy. A day ago, news covered by my wonderful peer broke about another 19-year-old boy — this time in Dubai — who died unexpectedly of cardiac arrest. Two young lives, two abrupt endings, both gone before life had even begun.

I finished filing a series of stories on Emman, drove home, and found my own daughter — 14, bright, sensitive, endlessly scrolling on her phone. And something inside me sank.

Not panic. A realization.

I sat her down. Not to terrify her — but to tell her: Do not hand your self-worth to strangers on the internet.

Do not confuse validation with identity. Do not believe that you must be seen to exist.

We had a real conversation — the kind parents avoid because it feels too early, too heavy, too real. But what Emman’s death shows us is that too early is exactly the time to have it. The danger isn't only in the depths; it’s in the illusion that everything is fine because everything looks fine.

Gen Z is not living online — They are existing there

For this digital-native generation, the internet is not a platform. It is a mirror. It reflects back not who they are, but how they are perceived. Every opinion is a poll. Every photo is a referendum. Every vulnerability is content.

And when the applause fades or turns into hostility — as it did when Emman was criticised over a viral dinner bill clip — the consequences aren’t reputational. They are existential. This is not hypothetical. This is happening.

This isn’t just a family’s loss:

We cannot treat Emman’s death as an isolated tragedy. It is the culmination of every warning we have ignored.

This generation does not need more motivational quotes. They need:

• Systems that treat mental health like healthcare, not content.

• Parents who are present offline — not just policing screen time, but providing emotional anchors.

• A society willing to confront that privilege does not protect against pain — sometimes it isolates you further within it.

Mental health is the great equaliser. It dismantles the myth that success, influence, or a “perfect” life protects you. If anything, it reveals that without internal stability, external cushioning is meaningless.

Emman’s death is not simply heartbreaking. It is instructive.

The real question is no longer: How could this happen?

The real question is: Now that it has — will we finally do something?