Tay Lautner Says God Inspired Her Mental Health Foundation: ‘People Were Struggling’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Tay Lautner recently shared how God led her to create her mental health organization, The Lemons Foundation.
“I think, by learning about mental health, I think the biggest thing I’ve learned over the years is, we’re so quick to ask questions like ‘Why didn’t they ask for help? What could I have done?’” Lautner said while appearing on “The Karen Kingsbury Show” podcast. “The complexity of mental health is something we’ve only barely scratched the surface of…it was just a lot of—and still is a lot of—learning the complexities of mental health.”
Lautner stressed the importance of speaking with a counselor to help you figure out how to handle mental health struggles, adding, “You’ve got to have your toolbox handy, and the toolbox needs to be filled with all the things you need when something breaks.”
She also spoke about how The Lemons Foundation began.
“The whole reason of the whole foundation…I knew so many people were struggling,” she said. “God talks to me in my sleep, and I come up with all of these things in my sleep and I wake up and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m going to do this!’ I woke up one morning and I was like, “Hon, I think I have to start a nonprofit.’’
Movieguide® previously reported on how Lautner’s faith called her to create The Lemons Foundation:
“I definitely feel like God speaks to me when I sleep and I wake up and I have all these ideas. Well, that’s how I started my nonprofit,” the newlywed said.
“I love that God speaks to you in the night and you wake up and just go with it. And that’s what a lot of life is when you see people starting these crazy things,” Huff told Lautner. “A lot of it is just God just spurring their heart to do it, and their willingness to say yes.”
“God’s giving me this platform on social media like how can I use it to help people because the world is just … crumbling. People are dealing with things I’ve never dealt with before, myself being one of them,” Lautner said.
According to the organization’s website, “The Lemons Foundations was founded in 2022 after Tay Lautner’s love for mental health became personal. Tay worked as a registered nurse during the height of the Covid pandemic which resulted in her having to leave her job due to developing depression, anxiety and severe PTSD.”
“Tay and husband, actor Taylor Lautner, have partnered together to make people aware of their mental health by eliminating the stigma that surrounds it,” the website continued. “Together the two are on a mission to make mental health resources, services and support more accessible and to be a light for those who are struggling.”
Lautner concluded, “The reason why I started [the foundation] is [because] I want to be able to help people, give people resources, the education, [and] the community to be able to come together.”
Lautner’s husband, TWILIGHT actor Taylor Lautner, is equally vocal about his support for those struggling with mental health issues. At the first Lemons Foundation Charity Gala in 2023, he told PEOPLE, “Our goal tonight and for this next year, and hopefully for many years to come, is to provide, we all go through struggles.”
“We all have horrible days, horrible years,” he continued. “But it’s important to be reminded that, one, you’re not alone. And then two, our goal is to provide the tools and resources. So when somebody is going through that horrible day, that horrible month, horrible year, know that there’s a way out of it.”
