12 Celebrity Quotes That Perfectly Describe Life With Bipolar Disorder

By Tanya Hvilivitzky 

When famous people share their personal battles with bipolar disorder, it serves as a reminder that no one is isolated in this struggle. After all, bipolar disorder is indifferent to wealth, fame, or success.

It’s easy to believe that celebrities — actors, musicians, or comedians — enjoy lives of perfection. However, what is publicly seen represents just a fraction of their actual lives. The truth is, bipolar disorder doesn’t discriminate. It makes no distinction between a person’s age, gender, race, or bank account size.

So, when stars living with bipolar disorder share their own struggles, it signals to others that they are not navigating the complexities of this brain-based disorder alone, reinforcing the message that, together, managing it is within reach.

Here are personal and powerful quotes from 12 such celebrities:

1. Taylor Tomlinson

It took a little while for comedian Taylor Tomlinson to accept her bipolar diagnosis. She explains to E! News her reaction upon learning about her mood disorder. “I was surprised that I felt embarrassed when I first found out. Because I think I’m very open-minded. I have friends who have bipolar. And you never judge your friends. You never felt like that was a big deal. But then when it’s you, you somehow realize you have all this deeper stuff from when you were a kid.”

2. Cameron Esposito

After telling her fans earlier this year of her bipolar diagnosis, Cameron Esposito, standup comic, actor, and writer, took to her Instagram channel on her birthday in October 2023 to reflect on the year: “… you know what? I’m lucky. I’m lucky that I figured it out. I’m lucky that I had a place to go. I’m lucky that I was enough in my faculties that I was extremely persistent with following up after that experience, and getting my meds and finding a psychiatrist. All that s&*t is impossible and so expensive. I have healthcare coverage; I have insurance. I just want to say to anybody who’s had to navigate this [mental health care] system … you are a hero! Look at you! Look at what you’ve been able to do!“

3. Alan Ritchson

Actor Alan Ritchson, star of Prime Video’s Reacher, was diagnosed with bipolar at age 36. In a February 2024 interview with CBC Radio’s “Q” program, Ritchson explains why he’s been sharing his story to help others: “As much as I would like to ignore that I’m a suicide survivor, if I didn’t share what I’ve learned I feel like my life would be meaningless,” he says. “I’ve always been a happy-go-lucky guy, but once you experience the grip [of depression] — the talons it can sink into you — you realize how sinister this thing is and how out of control the biology can really be for somebody in the midst of it.”

4. Carrie Fisher

“In my opinion, living with manic depression takes a tremendous amount of balls. Not unlike a tour of Afghanistan (though the bombs and bullets, in this case, come from the inside). At times, being bipolar can be an all-consuming challenge, requiring a lot of stamina and even more courage, so if you’re living with this illness and functioning at all, it’s something to be proud of, not ashamed of. They should issue medals along with the steady stream of medication.” — Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking, 2008

5. Ye (Kanye West)

As a guest in 2019 on David Letterman’s Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Ye (Kanye West) uses the term “ramping up” to convey the process of entering a hypomanic or manic bipolar mood episode: “When you ramp up, it expresses your personality more. You can become almost adolescent in your expression. … When you don’t take medication every day to keep you at a certain state, you have the potential to ramp up … and even end up in the hospital.”

6. A.J. Mendez

In an interview with bp Magazine, former pro wrestler A.J. Mendez (AJ Lee) says, “I see bipolar disorder as the gift of extraordinary emotions. It makes me bold, brave, loud, and capable of withstanding whatever obstacles the world throws at me. It has made me empathetic. It has given me a lofty imagination, a belief in the impossible, and has made me confident beyond reason. I was 90 pounds and five feet tall and believed I could succeed in the world of giants … because I didn’t have that voice of doubt holding me back.”

7. Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Dreyfuss has starred in blockbusters like Jaws, American Graffiti, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and The Goodbye Girl (which earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor). Of his bipolar diagnosis, he says, “No matter what you call it, this is an illness no different from, say, diabetes or asthma — and like those conditions, [it] should be neither ignored nor stigmatized. Feeling ashamed would mean surrendering to someone else’s judgment — an ignorant judgment at that.”

8. Linda Hamilton

The Terminator actress Linda Hamilton uses a holistic health plan to help her stability, with a structured and balanced lifestyle, exercise, and medication. “Exercise is an incredible key to feeling well. But for people with mental illness, taking care of the body is not an automatic thing. The mind is in such chaos, it’s hard to come up with a plan. So, to people like us, it’s more important than ever to follow a regimen.”

9. Maurice Benard

Daytime actor Maurice Benard — who plays Michael “Sonny” Corinthos Jr. on General Hospital — talked with bp Magazine on life with bipolar: “I’ve lived a productive life having bipolar. I’ve talked to people who don’t want to talk about [having bipolar] because it’s embarrassing. I’m proud of it because I know it’s made me the actor I am and the person I am. It’s given me strength. If I can go through being in a mental hospital, and that kind of pain, and that kind of fear, I can do anything.”

10. Maria Bamford

In an interview with bp Magazine’s Melody Moezzi, the comedian Maria Bamford talked about being diagnosed: “I was surprised how prejudiced I was against myself. They tell you it’s the brain chemistry also working its magic, but I was really surprised at how resistant I was to going on a mood stabilizer, taking any time off of work, acknowledging that I needed to be hospitalized. I was just so angry. I didn’t want to go on the meds. It wasn’t until it got bad enough to where I was starting to feel unsafe by myself that I reconsidered.”

11. Stephen Fry

In an interview with bp Magazine, Stephen Fry said of creativity, “It is not a coincidence, it can’t be, that so many comedians suffer from depression. As for whether the hypomanic side of bp can be said to help creativity, I hesitate to say yes because of all those out there living with the disorder who are not in creative industries. … But certainly, the energy, self-belief, exuberance, tirelessness, optimism, and, yes, grandiosity that mark out hypomania can really help one achieve much in terms of writing and creation.”

12. Mariah Carey

In 2018, during an interview with People magazine, Maria Carey spoke about the confusing ups and downs of bipolar disorder: “For a long time I thought I had a severe sleep disorder, but it wasn’t normal insomnia. … I was working and working and working. … I was irritable and in constant fear of letting people down. It turns out that I was experiencing a form of mania. Eventually, I would just hit a wall. I guess my depressive episodes were characterized by having very low energy. I would feel so lonely and sad, even guilt that I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing for my career.”

UPDATED: Originally posted June 19, 2020

Tanya Hvilivitzky

Tanya Hvilivitzky has spent more than 30 years in the communications field — a career that has included stints as an investigative journalist, managing editor for a lifestyle and wellness magazine, corporate communications director, and researcher/writer. She has been with bpHope (and bp Magazine) since 2016, serving in roles such as features editor, interim editor, and, currently, senior editor. She has been devoted to mental health awareness since she was the editor of Schizophrenia Digest in her early days, and now with a particular focus on highlighting the complexities of bipolar disorder through compassionate, service-based journalism. As an award-winning writer/editor, Tanya received the Beyond Borders Media Award for her 2012 investigative exposé about human trafficking for Niagara Magazine. Her work on this critical topic also earned the Media Freedom Award “Honouring Canada’s Heroes” from the Joy Smith Foundation to Stop Human Trafficking.

I dislike what Carrie Fisher had to say. It’s not appropriate to compare an illness to those who fought in Afghanistan and I do not think people with Bipolar Disorder deserve a medal and more medication. My thoughts about her have remained the same, she used her Bipolar Disorder as an excuse for her bad behavior and to make money. My opinion. 

Melinda