There are a lot of celebrities with schizophrenia, but the top 10 most well-known cases are shown here. Throughout history, there have been many recorded cases of famous people with schizophrenia.
Celebrities often face unique challenges, both personally and professionally. Mental illness is one of the most significant issues they face, and Schizophrenia is no exception. Many celebrities have been diagnosed with this severe mental disorder, from high-profile actors to musicians and comedians. Here are the top 10 stars who have bravely shared their stories of living with Schizophrenia.
I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know much about schizophrenia apart from what I see in films and literature.
However, the stories of these celebrities give us a glimpse of what the disorder is all about.
Read on pretty exciting stories.
1. Demi Lovato
First of the Top 10 Celebrities With Schizophrenia is Lionel Aldridge.
The singer has been open about her battle with bipolar disorder and was recently diagnosed with the schizoaffective disease in 2011. She has since become an advocate for destigmatizing mental illness through her work on mental health initiatives such as Be Vocal: Speak Up For Mental Health.
2. Veronica Lake
The second of the Top 10 Celebrities With Schizophrenia is Lionel Aldridge.
Lake was commercially and critically acclaimed for her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s. Her success didn’t last. She had a string of broken marriages that contributed to her long battle with mental illness.
She married songwriter Joseph McCarthy in 1955 but divorced four years later. She started drifting between cheap hotels in New York and has been arrested for charges related to alcohol several times.
A reporter found her working as a barmaid and printed her story. She regained her fame, but that also didn’t last long. Her health declined steadily; by the 60s, she claimed the FBI was stalking her. She became immobile and paranoid. She abused her first child and had promiscuous behavior with random men.
She died in 1973 of hepatitis.
3. Clara Bow
The third of the Top 10 Celebrities With Schizophrenia is Clara Bow.
The bow is often referred to as the most significant silent actress. She retired in 1933.
By 1944, while running for the U.S. House of Representatives, she tried to commit suicide. She was treated for her chronic insomnia, and shock treatment was performed. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia, despite experiencing no hallucinations or psychosis.
A rumor that she had group sex with the entire football team of the University of Southern California football team spread, but all the players denied such a thing happened.
Other stuff about her sex life has been said, but none were proven true, such as exhibitionism, incest, lesbianism, bestiality, drug addiction, alcoholism, and having contracted venereal disease.
4. Peter Green
Success brought Green closer to drugs. He binged on LSD while touring Europe. He began exhibiting weird behavior, such as wearing a robe, growing his beard, and wearing a crucifix on his chest.
By the ’70s, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He often went into a passive, trancelike state. He also threatened his accountant with a rifle. That forced him to go into a psychiatric institution in London.
5. Syd Barrett
Syd experimented with LSD. There was a story of his roommate spiking everything in the house with acid that resulted in Syd being on a 24-hour high. Eventually, he would be unable to play on gigs. He usually stands there and stares at nothingness or plays something different than the rest of the band.
Syd also kept his girlfriend under lock and key for three days, occasionally shoving a ration of biscuits under the door. He also became a victim of cruelty when groupies put him on a linen cupboard.
His erratic behavior leads to the band’s decision to “not pick him up on their way to a gig”. Eventually, he started showing up at the band’s gig and stared at David (the vocalist). It was probably his way of saying, “That’s my band.”
Roger, the bassist, was Syd’s childhood friend. Being concerned and missing Syd, he wrote the song Wish You Were Here. Oddly enough, Syd showed up in the recording, but no one recognized him. He was balding and fat. Eventually, they realized the man was Syd, so they said hi, and that was the last time they saw him. It is said that Syd gets depressed when he hears or sees Pink Floyd, so the bank avoids him.
Syd now lives in Cambridge, tends to his garden, and paints. He is not involved in any musical project anymore. If approached and called “Syd,” he now says, “Syd is no longer here.” He goes by the name Roger.
6. Skip Spence
Jefferson Airplane went into an LSD high as its popularity was also rising. They were considered stylish in an era when facial hair and ragged denim were considered the height of sartorial elegance, played hard fast R&B-tinged pop at a time when soft folk and extended jams were the order of the day, and set out to appeal to teenage girls at a time when such ambitions were frowned upon.
Spence was the founding member of Jefferson Airplane.
He was diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia, was an alcoholic, and lived as a derelict on the streets of Santa Cruz, although reports suggest that he had finally managed to stop drinking a few years before his death from cancer on Friday in a Santa Cruz hospital. Spence reportedly heard the tribute album featuring REM and Robert Plant in the hours before he died.
7. Antonin Artaud
A French playwright, actor, director, and poet. Artaud lived in the first half of the 20th century and was famed for his plays, poems, and acting. The second half was spent with psychosis and extreme hallucinations. He got into heroin, and slowly, his works talked a lot about the supernatural.
When he finished his last supply of the drug at a mountainside, he literally had to be hoisted onto his horse and soon resembled, in his words, “a giant, inflamed gum.” In 1937, he went back to France, where he got a walking stick of knotted wood which he claimed to have belonged not only to St. Patrick but also Lucifer and Jesus Christ. He returned to Ireland, claiming he needed to return the staff. He often checked himself into hotel rooms that he didn’t pay for.
He was arrested when he attacked two people. He spent the rest of his life in different asylums. He was put under the charge of Dr. Gaston Ferdière. Ferdière began administering electroshock treatments. The electroshock treatments have created much controversy, although it was during these treatments — in conjunction with Ferdière’s art therapy — that Artaud began writing and drawing again.
8. Mary Todd Lincoln
Wife to Abraham Lincoln and perhaps one of the most popular “celebrities” to have suffered from schizophrenia. However, in the interest of being fair, I need to print out an article I came across while researching about her.
According to Dr. John Bromley Moses, Lincoln did not have schizophrenia, and a file of documents found in 1975 in a closet in Manchester, Vermont, home of Mary Lincoln’s son Robert, proves it. In 1875 Mary Todd Lincoln was declared insane by a jury and was remanded to an asylum. The charge was brought by Robert, and he must have nursed a guilty conscience about it to keep a file that reveals that the trial was a sham.
The proceeding was an international sensation. Another trial a year later was held, and Mary was declared sane, but no one paid attention.
It is true that the first lady was an emotional volcano, had expensive taste, and was never scared to speak her mind. She also had enough influence on the President to swing his decisions. The men around Lincoln didn’t like that. No one commented because he was the President, but when he was assassinated, she became fair game. People claimed that she battled depression at the loss of her husband and that she was miserable.
It was apparently started by Lincoln’s longtime law partner in Springfield, Illinois, William Herndon. Consequently, Mary didn’t like the guy, and she clarified that.
Herndon was probably also put off by what he undoubtedly regarded as the unmanly ways Lincoln helped his wife. Lincoln was known to have greeted callers still wearing an apron, and he was often seen shepherding a quartet of rambunctious young sons through the streets to his office to give his wife respite.
Mary went through so much stress being the first lady, losing her son Willie died in 1862, and her other son, Eddie. According to some stories, she wailed so hard and long that Lincoln led her over to a window, pointed out an insane asylum in the distance, and threatened to take her there if she didn’t stop. Lincoln is known to teaser her a lot, so that’s probably true. But they were fine and even planned to take trips together to Paris for her and California for him.
Dr. Moses said she was challenging to live with, but she did not have schizophrenia.
9. Brian Wilson
His LSD, marijuana, amphetamine, and cocaine addiction shattered his mental equilibrium permanently. His weight ballooned, he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, and he began hearing voices in his head.
Brian Wilson founded the Beach Boys.
He is much recovered, but in 2004, he confided to American TV host Larry King: “I can still hear things like ‘I’m going to kill you, but I don’t hear very many other kinds of thoughts. Just usually negative thoughts….”The mental health issues dating to his childhood, however, owed much to his tyrannical father, Murry.
In his autobiography, Brian wrote that “playing the piano… literally saved my ass. I recall playing one time while my dad flung Dennis against the wall. That was just one of many incidents when I didn’t miss a note, supplying background music to the hell that often substituted for family life”.
10. John Nash
Among famous people with schizophrenia, Nash stood out. He was a brilliant mathematician who suddenly developed schizophrenia while still relatively young. He battled with the disease for 30 years, and won when in 1994, he won the Nobel Prize in Economics. His story is told in the 2001 movie “A Beautiful Mind.”
Nobel Prize Winner in Economics.
What famous artist has schizophrenia?
Among the most famous schizophrenic people is world-renowned artist Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh was a Post-Impressionist Dutch painter whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art.
What famous person has schizoaffective disorder?
Tom Harrell, the highly acclaimed Jazz Musician – Has had Paranoid Schizophrenia since 18. But, he successfully overcame this disease with medication. Brian Wilson, a famous Beach Boy – Was born on June 20, 1942.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is essential to remember that fame does not mean invulnerability. Mental health issues can affect anyone, and it is encouraging to see celebrities publicly sharing their stories of living with schizophrenia. Not only does this help to reduce stigma, but it also gives people living with schizophrenia the courage they need to speak up and seek treatment. It is a reminder that no one should ever feel ashamed of seeking support for mental health issues.