Famous People with
Mental Illness
Famous people with mental illness are outlined here. There is a misconception in the general public that because someone has risen to fame or fortune they are somehow immune to mental illness just like anyone else.
This web page rebuts this belief. There are many people with mental illnesses of all kinds including Hollywood celebrities, sports stars, the rich and wealthy and all walks of people.
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Princess Diana |
Stars, celebrities and notables with mental illness are no more immune to the stresses of life or biology and genetics than anyone else is.
Princess Diana (pictured above) struggled with post-partum depression after the birth of Prince William. And, in addition, according to the National Alliance on Mental Health, “Diana struggled with bulimia and self-harm, both coping mechanisms due to the stress of her marriage, as well as the pressure of being thrust into the public eye. She was constantly hounded by the paparazzi and the details around her loveless marriage were public knowledge.”
List of Famous People with Mental Illness
Lionel Aldridge Buzz Aldrin Woody Allen Adam Ant Roseanne Barr Ludwig van Beethoven Irving Berlin Marlon Brando Art Buchwald Amanda Bynes Drew Carey Jim Carrey Dick Cavett Winston Churchill Agatha Christie Dick Clark Rosemary Clooney Kurt Cobain Shawn Colvin Judy Collins Calvin Coolidge Jean-Claude Van Damme Rodney Dangerfield John Denver Princess Diana Charles Dickens Kitty Dukakis Patty Duke Kirsten Dunst Richard Dreyfuss T. S. Elliot William Faulkner Carrie Fisher Harrison Ford Connie Francis Paul Getty Mel Gibson Vincent Van Gogh Macy Gray Peter Green Linda Hamilton Ernest Hemingway Abbie Hoffman Janet Jackson William James Billy Joel Samuel Johnson John Keats Jack Kerouac Margot Kidder Vivien Leigh Abraham Lincoln Mary Todd Lincoln |
Jack London Martin Luther Henri Matisse Kristy McNichol Burgess Meredith Michelangelo Bette Midler Spike Milligan Wolfgang Mozart Edvard Munch John Nash Isaac Newton Friedrich Nietzsche Florence Nightingale Sinead O’Connor Eugene O’Neill Ozzy Osbourne Marie Osmond Jane Pauley Jimmy Piersall Sylvia Plath Edgar Allen Poe Jackson Pollock Charlie Pride Anne Rice John D. Rockefeller Theodore Roosevelt Axl Rose Mark Rothko J. K. Rowling Charles Schultz Peter Sellers Brooke Shields Robert Shumann Sarah Silverman Britney Spears Rod Steiger Ben Stiller James Taylor Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky Leo Tolstoy Ted Turner Mark Twain Tracy Ullman Kurt Vonnegut Mike Wallace Walt Whitman Tennessee Williams Jonathon Winters Brian Wilson Owen Wilson Virginia Woolf Boris Yeltsin |
So you can see that famous people with mental illness is not as rare as it may seem at first. I’ve only included the most notable famous people with mental illness for this list and left off some more minor celebrities of which there are literally thousands.
Great American author Ernest Hemmingway (pictured below) was plagued by alcoholism and depression much of his adult life. He received electro shock treatments at the Mayo Clinic in 1961 when he was suicidal. A few days later, Hemmingway would take his own life with his “favorite shotgun.” His granddaughter Margaux Hemingway would take her own life in 1996.
Ernest Hemingway
Linda Hamilton (pictured below), the star of the Terminator movies was diagnosed early with bipolar disorder. She resisted treatment, however, until she turned 40-years-old. She attributed anti-depressants to changing her world.
Linda Hamilton
Note: Making this mental illness list above does take some editorial judgment on my part. So, if you think that there is a celebrity or other notable that I’ve left off please send them in so that I may add them to the list.