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In 2018 Michelle Williams left the Broadway revival of Once on This Island on her doctor’s advice, shortly after it opened, and that year checked into a treatment facility for depression. She had joined Destiny’s Child in early 2000, beside Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland, and has said the symptoms began years before that, when she was a teenager in Rockford, Illinois. This is Michelle Williams the singer, not the actress of Dawson’s Creek and Brokeback Mountain. In May 2021 she published Checking In, a memoir about the depression she lived with through the group’s biggest years and the faith and therapy she credits with getting her through. This guide covers her one key book, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 1 key books · 2021–2021 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Michelle Williams, the Destiny’s Child singer (not the actress), has written one book: Checking In: How Getting Real about Depression Saved My Life—and Can Save Yours (2021), published by Thomas Nelson. It covers her depression from her teens, her years in Destiny’s Child, her 2018 stay in a treatment facility and her habit of checking in with herself, with others and with God. Start there; it is the only place she tells the story at length.
Where to Start with Michelle Williams
If you want a first-hand account of depression behind fame
→ Checking In (2021) — from her teens through Destiny’s Child to 2018.
If you want a book that puts faith and therapy side by side
→ Checking In (2021) — published by the Christian publisher Thomas Nelson.
If you want the Destiny’s Child years from the inside
→ Checking In (2021) — joining the group in 2000 and life after it ended.
1 Michelle Williams Book, in Order
Checking In
Williams traces her depression back to her early teens and describes how a manager put her first worries down to exhaustion or homesickness. After Destiny’s Child stopped working together in 2006 she kept recording and performing but felt lost and isolated, and by 2018 she was planning her own funeral before checking into a hospital for treatment. The book sets out what she took from that: replacing negative thoughts, forgiveness, therapy, and checking in with herself, with others and with God. Thomas Nelson published the 231-page book on 25 May 2021; Publishers Weekly found it short on practical guidance but expected Christians living with depression to find it relatable.
In What Order to Read Michelle Williams
There is only one book, so there is no order to work out. Checking In moves broadly in sequence, from her childhood in Rockford and her first symptoms to Destiny’s Child, the solo and stage career that followed, the crisis of 2018 and her recovery.
The later chapters turn from memoir to advice, organised around the three kinds of checking in that give the book its title. Readers who come for the Destiny’s Child years should know that the group is the background here; depression, faith and treatment are the subject.
A reading path
1. Checking In: How Getting Real about Depression Saved My Life—and Can Save Yours (2021)
The years · 1979–2024
Quick facts about Michelle Williams
- Known for
- Williams is known as a member of Destiny’s Child from 2000, a gospel and R&B solo artist and a Broadway performer, and as an outspoken advocate for mental health.
- 1979
- Born in Rockford, Illinois
- 2000
- Joins Destiny’s Child
- 2003
- Broadway debut in Aida
- 2021
- Checking In
- 2024
- Death Becomes Her on Broadway
- Born
- 23 July 1979, Rockford, Illinois, as Tenitra Michelle Williams
- Not to be confused with
- The actress Michelle Williams, of Dawson’s Creek and Brokeback Mountain
- Group
- Destiny’s Child, from early 2000, with Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland
- Grammy
- Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for “Survivor” (2002), with Destiny’s Child
- Solo albums
- Heart to Yours (2002), Do You Know (2004), Unexpected (2008), Journey to Freedom (2014)
- Stage
- Aida (Broadway, 2003), Chicago (West End 2009, Broadway 2010), Once on This Island (2018), Death Becomes Her (2024)
The red mark is 2021: Checking In, her memoir and only book.
How Michelle Williams Writes: Testimony, Then Tools
Checking In is built as a testimony first. Williams starts early, with symptoms she says began in her teens, long before she had words for them; she told CBC’s Q in 2021 that she did not have the language until her 30s, and that “Fame didn’t cause depression, Destiny’s Child didn’t cause depression.” She writes about her first diagnosis and about how anxiety affected her relationships, and told Essence before publication, “I really go into the specifics.”
The second half turns to practice. The organising idea is the title: checking in with yourself, with others and with God. She treats faith and treatment as partners rather than rivals; speaking to ABC13 in 2021 she put it as “prayer is a weapon, but therapy is a strategy,” and told believers that seeing a counsellor does not lessen their faith.
The book comes from a Christian publisher and is written for that readership as much as for Destiny’s Child fans. Publishers Weekly judged its practical advice thin, built around ideas such as replacing “the lies with truth”, but read it as comforting for Christians living with depression. Its value is the plain first-person account of a crisis that happened in public.
Listen
Michelle Williams on Checking In
Dr. Joy Harden Bradford talks with Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child about her book Checking In, depression in the public eye and privacy, in an episode published in May 2021. From the archive of the Therapy for Black Girls podcast.
Frequently asked questions about Michelle Williams’s book
How many books has Michelle Williams written?
One: Checking In: How Getting Real about Depression Saved My Life—and Can Save Yours (2021), published by Thomas Nelson.
What are Michelle Williams’s books in order?
There is only one, Checking In (2021).
Where should I start with Michelle Williams?
With Checking In, her only book. It is a memoir of her depression from her teens to her treatment in 2018, followed by the habits she credits with her recovery.
What is Michelle Williams’s most famous book?
Checking In (2021), which is also her only book.
Which Michelle Williams wrote Checking In?
Michelle Williams the singer, born Tenitra Michelle Williams on 23 July 1979 in Rockford, Illinois, and a member of Destiny’s Child from 2000. It is not the actress Michelle Williams, known for Dawson’s Creek and Brokeback Mountain.
What is Checking In about?
Depression. Williams describes symptoms from her early teens, a manager who put her concerns down to exhaustion or homesickness, the isolation she felt after Destiny’s Child stopped working together in 2006, and the point in 2018 when she was planning her own funeral and checked into a hospital. The rest of the book covers therapy, forgiveness and checking in with yourself, others and God.
Is Checking In a Christian book?
Yes, in large part. It was published by Thomas Nelson, part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, and faith runs through it alongside therapy. Williams has said that seeing a counsellor does not lessen a believer’s faith.
Why did Michelle Williams leave Once on This Island?
In 2018, shortly after the Broadway revival opened, she had a nervous breakdown and her doctor advised her to leave the show. That year she checked into a treatment facility for depression, which is the turning point of Checking In.
Is Michelle Williams still in Destiny’s Child?
Destiny’s Child stopped working together as a group in 2006. Williams, Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland have since reunited on stage, including at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2013 and at Beyoncé’s Coachella set in 2018.
Footnotes
- Michelle Williams (singer) — Wikipedia
- Checking In — HarperCollins Christian Publishing
- Checking In — Publishers Weekly review
- For Destiny’s Child’s Michelle Williams, depression didn’t follow fame — CBC Q, 2021
- Michelle Williams’s heartfelt new memoir, Checking In — Essence, 2021
- Singer Michelle Williams talks about her mental health journey and new book — ABC13, 2021
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“We have to check in with ourselves. We have to check in with others and we have to check in with God.”
— Michelle Williams, interview with Essence about Checking In (2021)
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