Chelsea Handler says she saw a psychiatrist after Trump’s election victory

‘I had a midlife identity crisis’

Comedian Chelsea Handler has said she saw a psychiatrist following Donald Trump's 2016 presidential election win.

Outspoken about her opposition to the US president on several occasions in the past, she has previously referred to the president as a "f***ing loser", but she revealed the effect Mr Trump's victory had on her on US talk show Real Time with Bill Maher.

"I had a midlife identity crisis once Trump won the election because I had never had my world feel so unhinged, I think," she said. "I had to pay a psychiatrist to listen to me b***h about Donald Trump for about the first three weeks."

Going to therapy made her realise the "parallel" between the impact the presidential election had on her and the experience of losing her brother at nine-years-old she said.

"I had never related the two, but for me, as I can imagine it must have been for so many people, it was a huge emotional trigger of everything being destabilised," the 44-year-old added.

Handler added that the intensity of her reaction to Trump's win made her realise how "spoiled and privileged" she'd been throughout her life.

The Life Will Be the Death of Me author explained how she utilised marijuana and meditation to help her cope with the emotional impact of the election.

"What I discovered was alcohol and outrage are not a good mix," she said. "I pivoted towards weed and cannabis, and for me, who's a very active and kind of high-strung person, the cannabis was a gateway drug to meditation."