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Famous women have feelings, tooPopcrunch has created a list of famous people who have gone on the record about suffering with depression. The list included more than 100 people from all walks of life: politics, Hollywood, sports, journalism, anthropology, etc. For our purposes here, I’m interested in the women on the list. Now, some of these women were pretty obvious candidates — I think we all had a hunch Sylvia Plath wasn’t happy every day — but others caught me by surprise and, again, illustrated what we all sort of know: that depression hits anyone, regardless of status, success, talent, smarts, looks, fame, love or lack thereof. Getting depressed is starting to feel like a given in the world today. I mean, times are bad: We’ve been at war for several years. Gas costs too much. It’s hectic out there. We’d be mad not to get sad. The key, obviously, is dealing with our depression healthily. Talking to friends works for some of us, or sometimes journaling or jogging. Some of us need counseling at times, and despite what Tom Cruise says, medication can help sometimes, too. It’s important to know that were not alone, and that some of our heroes have been depressed. Several of the people who are responsible for our favorite books, songs, and films, even. (Hey, isn’t it ironic that some of the people we turn to when we’re depressed get down, too?) Here are a few wonderful everyday women who get the blues: —Politicians, their spouses, and sex scandal partners (regardless of party affiliations): Tipper Gore, Barbara Bush, Betty Ford, Monica Lewinsky, Marilyn Monroe
—Royalty who may or may not have despised each other: Princess Di, Queen Elizabeth II —Athletes who grunt while playing and/or had a trend-setting hairdo in the 1970s: Monica Seles, Dorothy Hamill
—Women who sing about sad stuff: Shirley Manson of Garbage, Amy Lee of Evanescence, Sinead O’ Connor —Women who sing about happy stuff: Sheryl Crow, Melanie C —Women who sing about hot stuff: Donna Summer
—Women who sing about the importance of holding on: Carnie Wilson —Actresses who may have been involved with devious men: Anne Hathaway, Halle Berry —Writers: Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf (Wait, why is this list so short?) —The most beautiful women who have ever lived: Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn
—Funny women: Rosie O’Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres, Janeane Garofalo —Women who have gone head-to-head with Tom Cruise: Brooke Shields —Women who beat up their star athlete husbands: Tawny Kitean —Women who played sunny moms on 1960s television: Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) —Women who in reality married the fictional son of the woman above: Adrianne Curry —Women who have been in movies with Johnny Depp: Christina Ricci, Winona Ryder, Helena Bonham Carter —Women who provide the voice of Lisa Simpson: Yeardley Smith —Women who would rather be with chimpanzees: Jane Goodall
—The Judds: Ashley, Wynonna and their mom, Naomi —Seemingly sunny, upbeat women: Dolly Parton, Goldie Hawn, Mandy Moore, Drew Barrymore, Marie Osmond, Suzanne Somers
—Women we’re rooting for because of powerful crushes upon seeing Little Darlings as a kid: Tatum O’ Neal, Kristy McNichol —Women we weren’t sure thought enough to get depressed: Paris Hilton —Women who could theoretically get psychiatric help from their own characters: Lorraine Bracco Do any of these women surprise you? Does knowing that your favorite author or singer has her own issues give you more insight into them as a person vs. their celebrity? Submitted by on July 9, 2008 - 1:00pm. |
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News, Reviews & Commentary on Lesbian and Bisexual women in Entertainment and the Media
Linda Hamilton
I'm surprised you forgot Linda Hamilton (Terminator I and II, Dante's Peak, Beauty and the Beast TV series). I saw an interview with Oprah a few years ago and to think this woman who brought Sarah Connor to life-strong, resilliant, independent and all around kick ass!- had struggled quietly for years and years with bipolar disorder. I guess you could say there was a correlation between Sarah and Linda-Sarah was certainly in her own hell.
Another one has to be Alanis Morissette. Jagged Little Pill was written due to anger and depression and is probably in the top 5 albums of the last 25 years...IMO. I have to add Sheryl Crow and Sarah McLachlan to it as well. All three of these artists I turned too when I get my big bouts of depression and they seem very real to me and there's something that connects me to their music.
Good Post
Good good good blog.
I know that I feel so isolated and alone sometimes dealing with bipolar (i think we all probably know what it feels like to be (or think we are) isolated and alone) Depression is so real and so prevalent and so dangerous.
I've been laying in bed the past few days doing a whole lot of nothing because of depression, and well, i'm awake and i'm going to take the baby steps I need to to get life going again.
Thank you for the reminder not to let life get the best of me.
It would be interesting to
It would be interesting to know how bad all of these women suffered from depression...I've seen my cousin who dealt with depression and needed about ten years to get at least some things in her life working - although she visited a therapist on a regular basis.
As many of these women are pretty...productive (I can't think of a better word to express what I mean atm) I doubt that they suffered from grave depression.
The gas prices are no reason for a person to get depression, at least not when you're talking about the illness "depression". The word depressive is used far to careless nowadays. People tend to say 'I'm depressed today' without thinking.
Ha!
Women we weren’t sure thought enough to get depressed: Paris Hilton
Thank you for that...
You beat me to post it
Thanks for the list>>
As someone who has battled depression since the age of 15, I applaud these women for being out about a condition that has so many negative connotations attached to it.
On a loghter note: Tress McNeill (sp?) voices Bart Simpson-Yeardly Smith does Lisa.
Nancy Cartwright does Bart.
Aack! You're right>>
I bow to your Simpson's knowledge. :0)
Shawn Colvin
And there is always Shawn Colvin.
Who you gonna be if you can't be yourself,
you can't get it from t.v., you can't force it on
anybody else.-- Ani Difranco
Don't forget...
Don't forget...
if you want to talk about beloved writers, there's also Anne Rice, the woman who created the Vampire Chronicles!
Ironically, during the lowest times of her life did she write about vampires. It essentially made her a success.
Now, she's happy....and a Christian.
And there's also another "slightly" famous author who battled depression before writing a book about a boy named Harry Potter =)
It almost seems that people are at their creative best when they have depression. Just noticed the correlation, and from my own personal experiences.
JK Rowling comes
JK Rowling comes immediately to my mind. She fought depression while being an unemployed single mom, and got out of it with antidepressants. She occasionally talks about it, and it's always touching.
Good reminder!
She has also mentioned that she actually drew inspiration from her depression for one of the creatures she created. She said she was thinking about how depression felt like when describing the effects of having a Dementor close.
I just looked up
I just looked up Popcrunch's list, and one of the people that surprised me was Halle Berry.
Althought that doesn't surprise me. My endrocrinologist (e.g. Diabetes doctor), explains all the time the correlation and rate of diabetics getting depression.
UPDATE: Who is that Sinead Conner chick? She looks like a total fox ;) AND IRISH!
Sinead O'Connor the Irish singer-songwriter..
EEEEEE!
Gina Vivinetto? THE Gina Vivinetto? No. Way. I loved you back when you were on Stuck in the 80s. OMG I'm so psyched to see you blogging here. Totally made my day.
And don't have anything particularly insightful to add, just that the stigma attached to depression is wrong wrong wrong.
(And now I feel stupid for not noticing all the other posts you've made before this one.)
My favorite is Sarah
My favorite is Sarah Silverman, she seems so self assured and confident yet she has major issues with depression.
From Wikipedia:
"She is open about her lifelong battle with clinical depression, crediting her current emotional health to her use of prescription drug Zoloft...She also says she doesn't want to have biological children to avoid the chance that they might inherit her depression.[30]"
The least surprising on the list...
...for me would be Jane Goodall. After seeing all that humanity is capable of doing to the creatures we share the earth with in the name of power and money, I'd be shocked if she wasn't on this list.
I think it's great when a celebrity comes clean about their mental illness. It still has such a stigma attached to it that society needs people to be more upfront and open about it. When a celebrity who, to everyone else, seems to have it all - money, fame, and more times than not, beauty - can suffer from such diseases, then anyone can. Hopefully it helps people battling with their own demons to get the help they need.
Thank you for the excellent article (and funny - as previously commented on the Paris comment was too funny!). As someone who has battled against OCD, social-anxiety disorder and agoraphobia (which explains my love for my cats and my computer) for as long as I can remember, I love seeing articles that slowly chip away at the negativity surrounding the topic.
Any road is a good road when you don't know where you're going.
I never thought you could
Carrie Fisher...
Yes, my favorite princess of all time has been suffering from bipolar disorder (manic-depressive)...just like my mom...
Another one of my faves that was suffering from depression is Vivien Leigh
Carrie Fisher was the first one
Not at all surprising...
... that these successful and seemingly happy people suffer. My outward emotions rarely reflect how I really feel, after all.
By the way, gas prices are not too high. They reflect the savage depletion of our natural resources, and the corruption of corporate suits that profit from it. Take the bus.
Others not mentioned above:
Olivia Newton-John and Judy Garland
-Shannon
on the complete list
Popcrunch was wrong to include violent women
I thought that it was wrong-headed for Popcrunch to include violent criminals on their list - I think those women had more going on there than just depression- and that's why I left them of my version. I also left off women whose talent or work was overshadowed by their suicides. As someone who lived through a friend's suicide, the last thing I want to do is glorify an act like that. I don't want people to immediately correlate depression with suicide.
My version of the list was to emphasize depression happens to all of us. Everyday women. And hopefully, we get past it and do good work. Or we learn to be constructive while living with depression.
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty was a songwriter, musician and singer of rare value. If you are from the USA and old enough, you may have heard a couple of her songs murdered by Tracey Ullman in the early '80s, including "They Don't Know".
Many of Kirsty's songs conveyed a lot about her state of mind as she wittily and pithily captured her frustrations with life and a selfish society. Her performing career was held back by her refusal to bow in to the image makeovers of marketing men and the fact she was crippled by stage fright. She preferred working on her songwriting and Beach Boys-inspired lush harmonies in the studio.
As an inspiration to others who suffer depression, she did find an upturn in her happiness. Her music and her resumed touring schedule reflected this.
Others worth a mention who have spoken out in the UK are the singer/songwriter Annie Lennox and actresses Emma Thomson and Nicola Pagett.
haha i don't think i believe it