Charli D’Amelio Says Wearing Sunglasses at Night Helps Her Anxiety—Here’s Why

At 18, Charli D’Amelio has a whopping 49 million followers on Instagram. On TikTok, she has over 145 million. And her following is only growing. 

D’Amelio, born and raised in a Connecticut suburb, rose to fame in 2019 for sharing short dance routines she performed on TikTok from her childhood bedroom. By the time social media use skyrocketed for everyone in the early quarantine days of 2020, D’Amelio and her online dances were everywhere. 

Since, she joined (and later left) the TikTok Hype House; starred in The D’Amelio Show, a Hulu reality TV show alongside the rest of her family; launched multiple beauty collections with her older sister, Dixie; and even forayed into voice acting with a role in StarDog and TurboCat. Life in the fast lane is difficult for anyone, and D’Amelio, who says she’s lived with anxiety for as long as she can remember, has developed strategy of coping mechanisms that help her keep calm. 

“I, myself, have had anxiety my whole life. Other people started to notice it when I was in third grade,” D’Amelio tells SELF. “It’s definitely been a long time of dealing with it and I’m obviously a lot better at handling it now, but in certain situations I still get a little bit overwhelmed and I just need to take a step back. It’s been a long journey and for a long time it was out of control… I feel like now I’m in the driver’s seat and I can live first and overthink later.”

Some of D’Amelio’s wellness essentials—like the sunglasses she wears when she goes out at night to afford her just a small amount of privacy from paparazzi—help her worry less. Others, like the $10 eye cream she swears by, are more ubiquitous to every Gen Z-er. D’Amelio also loves Y2K throwbacks—like the digital camera she totes everywhere she goes—and still sleeps with a fuzzy stuffed animal at night. 

Watch D’Amelio’s Wellness Essentials episode for the rest of her picks and shop her favorite items below.