Depression Confession: Mischa Barton
The willowy star was admitted to a psych institution, putting production on the new CW series Beautiful Life in question. One report said she was involuntarily admitted for a 72-hour hold. It’s kind of strange that she’s going through this shortly after ending work on the horror film Homecoming, in which she played a person with a mental problem. Her co-star Jessica Stroup had this to say to TV Guide about Mischa in the movie:
It’s so interesting to me to play “crazy.” There’s such a fine line between playing it and really believing that your character thinks nothing is wrong and that they’re in the right, that everything they’re doing is for the betterment of whatever. I kind of got to play with that on 90210 this past year, and that’s what Mischa did in Homecoming.
Co-star Morgan Freeman told Extra! that he doesn’t believe her playing “crazy” affected her negatively, saying she was very professional throughout the film shoot.
Here’s how the Germans are writing her situation:
Mischa Barton’s friends were worried she was suicidal, it has been claimed. Pals close to ‘The O.C.’ actress – who was sectioned on Wednesday after being placed under a 5150 hold, a piece of US legislation which means she poses a danger to herself or others – were convinced she would try to commit suicide unless they forced her to get help, BANG! Showbiz reports. A source told the New York Post newspaper: “She’s in very bad shape. She’s running out of money and can’t find love, so now she is looking for a good time to escape her misery. She is on a downward spiral. She is a mess. She is a suicidal, uninsurable mess.”
Poor girl. Sounds troubled. Good luck, Mischa.
liz | 11:16 AM | Uncategorized
Depression Confession: Alec Baldwin
From People magazine:
It was the private voicemail message not meant to be shared and yet ended up being heard by nearly everyone – Alec Baldwin’s angry April 2007 tirade against his daughter, Ireland, accusing the then-11-year-old of being a “rude little pig” who needed to have her “ass straightened out” after she had “humiliated me for the last time.”
Only now, as the Emmy-winning 30 Rock star admits in a candid interview with Playboy for its July/August issue (on newsstands and online Friday), after the phone message was exposed, he contemplated killing himself.
…
Describing his thoughts of killing himself as “very serious,” Baldwin, 51, says, “I spoke to a lot of professionals, who helped me … If I committed suicide, [Kim Basinger's side] would have considered that a victory. Destroying me was their avowed goal.”
His self-destructive state of mind was such, recalls Baldwin, that he also offered to quit 30 Rock and actually went ahead and – briefly – dropped his agent, who also represented Basinger.
I find him quite delightful, personally.
Alec Baldwin Was Suicidal over Angry Voicemail to Daughter
liz | 11:14 AM | celebrities, depression, media
Depression Confession: Scott Weiland’s Wife, Mary Fosberg
Well, it’s not really about depression, exactly. The wife of the Stone Temple Pilots/Velvet Revolver frontman is releasing a book about living with Weiland and having bipolar disorder. It sounds like the two of them still have feelings for each other. Weiland said:
My love for her will never end. We just forgot how to be friends. She has now chosen a public career and one that brings both accolades and public scrutiny. There will be more of this sort of thing to deal with as time goes by… both good and bad.
“Divorce is hell, I remember it well and we deal with it every day. And if you think about it, we both have our ‘what-ifs’ and ‘why-nots,’ but it’s no cheaters’ story and all I ask is to not see her cry.”
Scott Weiland’s Soon-To-Be Ex-Wife Releasing A Tell-All Book
liz | 10:24 AM | Uncategorized
Depression Confession: Speaking of Sports…
The Eagles’ (<3) Shawn Andrews has been very open about his struggle with clinical depression, which I greatly admire in a lineman. The New York Times is apparently all over the pro sports/mental health beat (thanks to Dave K. for letting me know):
Andrews said he had seen a psychiatrist last summer in Little Rock, and then in Philadelphia, but that he was not currently undergoing counseling. He did say he was taking antidepressant medication, along with the drug Adderall to treat attention-deficit disorder.
He said he understood that some people had little sympathy for a highly paid professional athlete, that even some of his teammates might feel he was exaggerating, or using depression as an excuse for an indifference to football. “That’s fine,” he said. “I don’t work for them. They don’t pay my bills. They don’t take care of my family.”
He said he took gratification from a handful of players around the league who told him they felt similarly and from others who said they had been emboldened by his own admission.
“A lot of people say football should help you channel your anger and aggression,” Andrews said. “But it’s not as easy as people think it is.”
…
Compared with last year, Andrews said, “I’m at a better point, mentally and physically.”
Early last August, as rumors grew about his absence, Andrews told reporters that he was suffering from depression, had sought professional help and was taking medication. He eventually reported to the team, but played in only two games before sustaining a herniated disk in his back, which required surgery.
For a brief period last season, he said he stopped taking his medication.
“I was feeling great, I was like, this thing is over,” Andrews said. “Man, things went south. I’ve never been a big fan of medication, but at this point it’s very crucial for me.”
So far this off-season, [coach Andy] Reid said, Andrews is “doing a great job.” Andrews said the move to tackle could rejuvenate his career.
Still, his renewed enthusiasm has been tempered by the fact that he has missed nearly two full seasons to injury.
“All the physical anguish I’ve been through, the thought of not being able to get up and play with my son, that really keeps my mind going every day,” Andrews said.
He sees some of his teammates dropping items and struggling to bend and pick them up.
“I don’t want to live like that,” Andrews said.
Inside Lineman’s Helmet, Doubts and Depression
liz | 2:11 PM | celebrities, depression
Depression Confession: Matthew Good
The Canadian bandleader describes dysphoric mania like this:
“Imagine being put in a coffin with the things you fear the most, being buried underground and feeling it start to shrink, and multiply that feeling by 1,000. You think, ‘If I die now, that’d be cool.’”
Isn’t that a superb evocation? Good is speaking at a mental health conference about his experience with bipolar disorder, having become a real advocate on the subject. I like this song by him.
Vancouver’s Matthew Good speaks from the heart about his bipolar disorder [Vancouver Sun]
liz | 10:38 AM | bipolar disorder, celebrities
Depression Confession: Bar Rafeali
Okay, okay — you got me. She’s not really depressed. I mean, why would she be? She’s fabulously gorgeous, on the cover of Sports Illustrated, dating Leonardo DiCaprio (though he’s not my favorite; see my comments here if you scroll down), and now she’s going to be in a Hollywood movie. She is, however, playing someone who’s depressed. Here’s the article from the Indian site Sify.com:
Bar Refaeli to make film debut as psychiatric patient
Israeli model Bar Refaeli has been very much in the news after posing for the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, and now she will be making her film debut as a psychiatric patient.
Refaeli, 23, will be playing the part of a psychiatric patient in the suspense drama Session, which will be released later this year.
“It’s about my love-hate relationship with a therapist. It was a lovely experience,” the Daily Star quoted her as saying.
As for her making the cover of the swimsuit issue, Refaeli is very excited about it, and says that her grandma is her biggest fan.
“As soon as I found out I’d got the cover this time, I called 30 people – all my friends in Israel, all my friends in LA, my grandma and my grandpa,” she said.
“My family is so proud of me. My grandma says she walks down the street and people go up to her and say, ‘Are you Bar Refaeli’s grandmother?’ She keeps every single article on me,” she added.
And, I can’t help saying the following: She’s Jewish! Mazel tov, Bar.
liz | 2:11 PM | celebrities
Depression Confession: Joe Pantoliano
I guess he’s going to start being an activist now. Or shilling. One or the other.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Joe Pantoliano’s first reaction to being told he was clinically depressed was … euphoria.
Finally, he said, he had an answer to why he’d been so miserable despite having the success and family he always wanted.
The 57-year-old actor, perhaps best known for playing Ralph Cifaretto on HBO’s “The Sopranos,” was in Buffalo Thursday to talk about the organization he founded two years ago to help remove the stigma attached to mental illness. It’s called: No Kidding, Me Too!
“Mental disease is the only thing you can be diagnosed with and get yelled at for having,” he said. “Why is that?”
Appearing with representatives from pharmaceutical and biomedical research companies, Pantoliano said medication has helped him manage his depression.
“From the moment I was diagnosed there was a certain sense of euphoria and `Thank God’ we figured this out,” he said, “because I thought that I’d become such a curmudgeon.”
liz | 1:51 PM | Uncategorized
Depression Confession: Rachel Maddow
My crush on Rachel Maddow grows each day. As if the Ph.D. and left-wing passion weren’t enough, Newsweek reports:
Maddow’s achievements do not always come easily. What only those close to her know is that she has suffered from cyclical depression since puberty that, she says, you can set your watch by. At her lowest points, she loses her sense of smell: “It’s a warning sign that like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to be able to live with myself for the next 48 hours’. It’s weird.”
What cracks me up about Newsweek is sentences like the one bolded above. It’s kinda like that whole thing of what-only-those-in-our-offices-know-is-50,000-words-of-really-important-stuff.
liz | 12:14 PM | Uncategorized
London Goes Mad for Pride
Here’s a piece that ran in yesterday’s London Times (yum!) about mad pride and the upcoming Bonkersfest. It takes its starting point from the New York Times piece.
Bonkersfest
Laurel IvesFor the most part, Liz Spikol’s videos on YouTube come across as light-hearted and quirky. In one, she pinches her chin to demonstrate her weight gain; in another, she muses on what it meant for her relationship when she lost her libido. Yet Spikol, 40, executive editor and columnist of Philadelphia Weekly, is talking about what it’s like to live with bipolar disorder, a condition she has suffered from since her twenties.
Spikol is part of a growing movement of people who suffer from serious mental illness and are willing to talk honestly and publicly about their condition. She is articulate and successful, and this is part of the point. In books, lectures and blogs, Americans, particularly women, are gathering to fight the stigma of “the mad woman in the attic” and show they can live successful lives.
Now, this confessional trend is gathering momentum in Britain.
In London, a group of people who self-consciously refer to themselves as “mad” are getting together for a day-long festival on Saturday, aptly named Bonkersfest. It bills itself as a celebration of madness, creativity, individuality and eccentricity, “bonkers celebrations for everyone — bonkers or not”.
liz | 9:38 AM | Uncategorized
Depression Confession: Kirsten Dunst
I knew I loved her for more than her cutie-pie star turn in Interview With a Vampire and subsequent good-natured appearances in Spider-Man. From yesterday’s Star-Ledger:
She tells E! Online that earlier this year, she checked into the posh Cirque Lodge Treatment Center in Utah — rehab center of choice for Lindsay Lohan and Eva Mendes — because she was dealing with depression.
“I was struggling, and I had the opportunity to go somewhere and take care of myself,” Dunst says. “I was fortunate to have the resources to do it. My friends and family thought it was a good idea, too.”
She says she’s “feeling stronger” now, and decided to talk about her struggles because “depression is pretty serious and should not be gossiped about.”
Good for her. Not so good, however, was the lede of the Star-Ledger’s article: “Kirsten Dunst is not so much a partier as a party pooper.” Isn’t that kind of an odd way to put it?
Regarding Cirque Lodge, the website reminded me a bit of the site for a ranch in Colorado where I’ll be spending my upcoming vacation. From June 1 to June 8 I’ll be out in the San Juan mountains riding horses, nursing my sore muscles in a hot tub, then returning to my cabin — all by myself. I love solo vacations. I expect it to be fully rejuvenating, so I hear what Dunst is saying.
Meanwhile, this blog will be written by Alli Katz, PW staffer, Oberlin alum and all-around delicious person.
liz | 12:14 PM | Uncategorized
