Cathy Hummels apologizes for Instagram post

After clear criticism, Cathy Hummels deleted a post about a yoga and wellness trip from her Instagram account. The moderator had advertised the event she organized, in which other influencers also took part, that it was good for mental health.

She was heavily criticized for this. The German Depression League issued a press release entitled "Depression is not a marketing tool". "It becomes difficult when some social media accounts and blogger appearances give the impression that the depression is only a brief occurrence and can be magically removed, for example, with the rays of the sun," it said. "It becomes very tricky when it is apparently used as an advertising medium to market (own) products."

The 34-year-old responded to the criticism on Instagram. She suffered from depression herself and wanted to show that it could happen to anyone, including celebrities. "In retrospect, I realize that I didn't always succeed in communicating," she wrote. “Rather, some representations were unfortunate and misleadingly formulated. If this made people, especially those affected by depression or other mental illnesses, not feel taken seriously or felt hurt, I am sorry and I apologize for that.”

She wanted to continue to draw attention to the disease, but "do it better in the future". "It was in no way my intention to downplay the depression," she said. "Not that the impression is created that I would use the disease for advertising purposes. It is a serious disease that needs to be treated properly.”

She also deleted the corresponding post because of the drastic criticism, she wrote: "Some comments that were written in response to my post were unfortunately more than "just" a shitstorm. I can endure and accept criticism and try to learn from it. But insults or even hatred have no place with me.”