But I’m going to tell it again

So many other people try to tell the tale

Not one of them knows the end

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Christy Sheats, the mom in Texas who shot her daughters suffered a mental illness. The media hasn’t released the specifics of her disease yet, but I wouldn’t doubt for a second that she was Bipolar. Bring in the stigma. All it takes is for one extreme case to shame the rest of us into hiding. So, I thought it’d be fun, errrrr, enlightening to list some famous people diagnosed as having or thought to possibly have Bipolar Disorder.

Patty Duke (she wrote a book or two about it, big advocate)

Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia, Star Wars)

Catherine Zeta-Jones (Bipolar II which means she is usually depressed and has never had a full blown Manic episode)

Stephen Fry (British actor/comedian who made an enjoyable documentary about it)

Jean-Claude Van Damme

Marya Hornbacher (I have her book, Manic, there’s one part that gives me nightmares, *chills*)

Demi Lovato

Sinead O’Connor

Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O’Hara)

Russell Brand

Amy Winehouse

Kurt Cobain (I’ve read that he was diagnosed but never sought treatment)

Vincent Van Gogh (although not diagnosed, he showed the symptoms enough that led experts to believe he suffered from BD)

Robert Downey Jr.

Connie Francis

Ben Stiller

Tracy Ullman

Robin Williams

Ludwig Von Beethoven

Tim Burton

Francis Ford Coppola

Buzz Aldrin

DMX

Peter Gabriel

Jimi Hendrix

Charley Pride

Axl Rose

Sting

Brian Wilson

Sylvia Plath

Theodore Roosevelt

Jane Pauley

Dick Cavett

Patricia Cornwell

Edgar Allen Poe (believed to be bipolar)

Virginia Woolf

Mark Twain

Mark Vonnegut

All of the aforementioned are very talented. Manic depressives (manic depression is the same thing as bipolar Disorder, just updated the name) lean toward creativity. I can be creative but I have no follow through, no completion. I am a little jealous of that. Seeing such famous names makes it seem more acceptable to be “out,” but only they know the troubles they’ve seen or how tortured their soul is. You can’t walk a mile in anyone’s shoes but your own, figuratively speaking.

Thank you to cbsnews.com and Bipolar Disorder Today.

http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/famous-people-celebrities-bipolar/

http://www.mental-health-today.com/bp/famous_people.html