There are many high profile individuals who experience mental illness. I feel like I'm in good company. Maybe you are too?
So read the list below and let's take stigma out of mental illness.
John Quincy Adams (US President), Lionel Aldridge (football star), Buzz Aldrin (astronaut), Alvin Ailey (choreographer), Adam Ant AKA Stuart Goddard (singer),Ann-Margaret (actor), Louie Anderson (comedian, actor), Gillian Anderson (actor), Isaac Asimov (author), Diane Arbus (photographer), Fiona Apple (musician), Ludwig van Beethoven, (composer), Robert Burns (poet), Drew Barrymore (actor/producer), Daniel Boorstin, (Former US presidential advisor), Zach Braff (actor), Art Buchwald (columnist), Oksana Baiul (skating star), Kim Basinger (actor), Ned Beatty, (actor), Syd Barrett (musician), Ludwig von Beethoven (composer), Carol Burnett (comedian), Maurice Bernard (actor), Irving Berlin (composer), Danny Bonaduce (actor), Halle Berry (actor), Kjell Magne Bondevik (Prime Minister, Norway), Steve Blass (baseball star), David Bowie (singer), Charles “Buddy” Bolden (musician), Charlotte Bronte (author), Marlon Brando (actor), Willie Burton (athlete), Barbara Bush (former First Lady - U.S.), Delta Burke (actor), Robert Borrstin (political advisor), Lord Byron (Poet), Cher (singer/actress), Dick Clark (producer/music magnate), John Candy (comedian), Ray Charles (musician), Deanna Carter (singer), Helen Caldicott (activist/writer), Dean Cain (actor), Drew Carey (comedian), Earl Campbell (football star), Eric Clapton (musician), Jim Carrey (actor/comedian), Melanie Chisholm (singer), Naomi Campbell (model), Jim Carrey (actor/comedian), Rosemary Clooney (singer), Jose Canseco (baseball star), Shawn Colvin (musician), Mary Jo Codey (First lady of New Jersey), Judy Collins (musician), Dick Cavett (TV host/writer), Courtney Cox (actor), Margaret Cho (comedian), Natalie Cole (singer), Michael Crichton (writer), Francis Ford Coppola (director), Sheryl Crow (musician), Winston Churchill (English Prime Minister), Nicolas Cage (actor), Sandra Cisneros (writer), Patricia Cornwell (writer), John Cleese (comedian/actor), Leonard Cohen (musician), Paula Cole (actor), Shayne Corson (hockey star), Judy Collins (musician), Shawn Colvin (musician), Jeff Conaway (actor), Ty Cobb (baseball star), Pat Conroy (writer), Billy Corgan (musician), Calvin Coolidge (US President), Bill Dana (comedian), John Daly (golf star), Rodney Dangerfield (comedian/ actor), Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederate States of America), Gaetano Donizetti (opera), Jonathan Davis (musician), Charles Darwin (scientist), Mike Douglas (TV host), Sandra Dee (actor), Walt Disney (entrepenuer), John Denver (musician), Dame Edna (comedian), Ellen DeGeneres (comedian/actor), Richard Dreyfuss (actor), Johnny Depp (actor), Paolo DiCanio (soccer star), Eric Douglas (actor), Charles Dickens (author), Patty Duke (actress), Scott Donie (Olympic star), Kitty Dukakis (former First Lady of Massachusetts), Albert Einstein (Nobel Prize Physicist), Michael English (singer), Queen Elizabeth, Jim Eisenreich (baseball star), Thomas Edison (inventor), Ralph Waldo Emerson (writer), Robert Evans (film producer), Jules Feiffer, (cartoonist), James Farmer (civil rights leader), Edie Falco (actress), Betty Ford (former US first lady), Carrie Fisher (actress), James Forrestal (undersecretary of US), Eddie Fisher (singer), Aretha Franklin (singer), Harrison Ford (actor), Albert French (writer), Sally Field (actress), Connie Francis (singer), Sarah Ferguson (Duchess of York), Sigmund Freud (psychoanalyst), Stephen Fry (actor), Bill Gates (Microsoft Magnate), Shecky Greene (comedian), Barbara Gordon (filmmaker), Phil Graham (Washington Post), James Gandolfini (actor), James Garner (actor), Peter Gabriel (musician), Kendall Gill (basketball star), Ruth Graham (writer), John Gisbon (pianist), Danny Glover (actor), Dwight Gooden (baseball star), Tipper Gore (Former US first lady), Carey Grant (actor), Mariette Hartley (actor/activist), Tim Howard (soccer star), Juliana Hatfield (musician), Ernest Hemingway (writer/ Nobel Laureate), Margaux Hemingway (actor), Audrey Hepburn (actor/activist), Olivia Hussey (actress), Pete Harnisch (baseball star), Linda Hamilton (actor), Stephen Hawking (physicist), Sir Anthony Hopkins (actor), Marty Ingels, (comedian), Janet Jackson (musician), Kay Redfield Jamison (psychologist/author), Richard Jeni (Comedian), Billy Joel (musician), Beverly Johnson (supermodel), Jim Jenson (newscaster), Elton John (musician), Ashley Judd (actor), Daniel Johns (musician), Naomi Judd (singer), Angelina Jolie (actor), Al Kasha (songwriter), Danny Kaye (actor), Leila Kenzle (actress), John Keats (poet), Franz Kafka (writer), Gelsey Kirkland (dancer), Margot Kidder (actress), Nicole Kidman (actress), Joey Kramer (musician), Julie Krone (star athlete), Pat LaFontaine (hockey star), Jessica Lange (actor), Hugh Laurie (actor), Jacob Lawrence (artist), Vivien Leigh, (actress), Peter Nolan Lawrence (writer), Primo Levi(writer), John Lennon (musician), Meriwether Lewis (explorer), Courtney Love (singer) Allie Light (director), Abraham Lincoln (American President), Rick London (cartoonist), Mary Todd Lincoln (Former US first lady), Salvador Luria, (scientist/Nobel Laureate), John Madden (football star), Meat Loaf (musician/actor), Camryn Manheim (actor), Martha Manning (psychologist), Gustav Mahler (composer), Alanis Morisette (singer), Howie Mandel (comic), Bette Midler (singer/actress), Dave Matthews (musician), Gary McDonald (actor), A.J. McLean (musician), Burgess Meredith (actor), Sir Paul McCartney (Musician), Robert McFarlane (security advisor), Sarah McLachlan, (musician), Rod McKuen (writer), Gary McDonald (actor), Les Murray (poet), John Stuart Mill (philosopher), J.P. Morgan (industrialist), Edvard Munch (artist), John Mellencamp (musician), Paul Merton (comedian), Kate Millet (writer/feminist), Carmen Miranda (dancer), Claude Monet (artist), Many Moore (Singer), Michelangelo (artist), V.S. Naipaul (writer/Nobel Laureate), John Nash (Mathematician /Nobel Prize), Ralph Nader (consumer rights advocate), Stevie Nicks (musician), Vaclav Nijinsky (Dancer), Sir Isaac Newton (scientist), Deborah Norville (journalist), Marie Osmond (entertainer), Sir Laurence Olivier (actor), Rosie O’Donnell (comedian/actress), Georgia O’Keefe (artist), Donny Osmond (entertainer), Lani O'Grady (actress), Eugene O'Neill (playwright), Joe Panteliano, (actor), Dolly Parton (musician), Meera Popkin (broadway star), Charley Pell (football coach), George Patton (US general), Jane Pauley, (journalist), Teddy Pendergrass (musician), Edgar Allan Poe (writer), Elvis Presley (entertainer), Ezra Pound (poet), Jason Pollock (artist), Cole Porter (composer), Jimmy Piersall (baseball star), Alma Powell (wife of General Colin Powell), Susan Powter (motivational speaker), Freddie Prinze, Jr. (actor), Roseanne (comedian/actress), Bonnie Raitt (musician), Burt Reynolds (actor), Lou Reed (musician), Norman Rockwell (artist), Theodore Roosevelt ( President of the United States), Joan Rivers (comedian, actress), Mac Rebennack AKA Dr. John (musician), Alex Rodriguez (baseball star), Alys Robi (vocalist), Winona Ryder (actress), Yves Saint Laurent (fashion designer), Sam Shepard (playwright), Tom Snyder (TV host), Monica Seles (tennis star), Linda Sexton (writer), Neil Simon (playwright), William T. Sherman (US general), Marc Summers (TV host), Diana Spencer (Princess of Wales), John Steinbeck (author), Paul Simon (musician), Lauren Slater (writer), Willard Scott (star weatherman), William Shakespeare (writer), Carly Simon (singer), Jose Solano (actor), Rick Springfield (musician/actor), Brooke Shields (actress), Rod Steiger, (actor), George Stephanopoulos (political advisor), Barbra Streisand (singer), William Styron (writer), Charles Schulz (cartoonist), Teresa Stratas (opera singer), Sissy Spacek (actor), Dave Stewart (singer), Darryl Strawberry (baseball star), Lori Schiller (writer), Francis Sherwood (writer), Scott Simmie (journalist), Earl Simmons AKA DMX (musician), Alonzo Spellman (football star), Nikola Tesla (inventor), Spencer Tracy (actor), Hunter Tylo (actor), Leo Tolstoy (author), Ted Turner (entrepreneur), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (artist), Mark Twain (author), Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky (composer), Anne Tyler (author), Tracy Ullman (actor), Dimitrius Underwood (football star), Vivian Vance (actor), Meredith Vieira (journalist), Kurt Vonnegut (writer), Mike Wallace (journalist), Evelyn Waugh (novelist), Damon Wayans (comedian), Tennessee Williams (writer), Dar Williams (musician), Ed Wood (director), Tom Wolfe (writer), Michael Warren (Canada Post), George Washington (US President), Lewis Wolpert (scientist), Hugo Wolf (composer), Luther Wright (basketball star), Virginia Woolf (novelist), Bill Wilson (Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous), Tom Waits (musician), Brian Wilson (musician), Jonathan Winters (comedian), Ann Wilson (singer), Amy Winehouse (singer), Oprah Winfrey (TV host), Robin Williams (comedian), W.B. Yeats (poet), Robert Young (actor), Bert Yancey (golf star), William Zeckendorf (industrialist), Renee Zellweger (actor).
References
Buchwald, A. (1999). Famous, important people who have suffered depression. Psychology Today.
Fonda, J. (2005). My life, so far. New York: Random House.
Jamison, K.R. (1993). Touched with fire. Manic depressive illness and artistic temperment. New York: Free Press.
Shepard, S. (1999). Mrs. gore breaks the ice on mental illness. Wahsington Bureau: The Palm Beach Post.
Shields, B. (2005). Down came the rain: My journey through post partum depression.
New York: Hyperion Books.
______(2005). Health: Celebrities who have admitted suffering from depression. England: Burmingham Post.
People with Mental Illness Enrich Our Lives
http://www.nami.org/helpline/peoplew.htm
Celebrity with Anxiety Disorders
http://www.anxietysecrets.com/celebrities.htm
Famous People Who Have Battled Depression
http://www.funkstop.com/ed/depression
