Halle Berry was the first and remains the only African American woman to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001. She is a Revlon spokesmodel, is the highest paid actress in Hollywood (commanding in excess of $10,000,000 per film), and has been voted the sexiest woman alive by titles such as Esquire, FHM, and Empire.
Preceding this stellar career, Halle Berry dealt with an estranged father from a very early age, not knowing him at all or even aware whether he was still alive or not. As her modeling career was developing, she moved from Ohio to New York to pursue her acting dreams in 1989. Soon after moving, she would run out of money and become homeless. Her dreams would not be given up that easily, and later in the year secured an acting job with the American Broadcasting Corporation.
After the separation of her first marriage to former baseball player David Justice, Berry publicly stated that she was so depressed that she had considered attempting suicide by gassing herself in her car, but couldn’t bear the thought of her mother finding her body.
“It took away my self-esteem. It beat me down to the lowest of lows….
…I just wanted to end the pain.”
She went into therapy soon after. “I know it sounds cliche, but you have to find a way to hold on because time really does heal all wounds….”
“….people still associate therapy with being crazy. But I think you’re crazy if you won’t consider going to get help for yourself—to learn the tools to deal with the problems in your life. Once people see what it is and what it’s not, they race to go back. They get the benefit. But it’s hard to get people to the first session because of fear.”
She was awarded a “worst actress” Razzie award in 2005 for her role as Catwoman. She appeared at the ceremony to accept the award in person (making her the third person, and second actor, to ever do so) with a sense of humor, considering it an experience of the “rock bottom” in order to be “at the top”. Holding the Academy Award in one hand and the Razzie in the other she said, “I never in my life thought that I would be here, winning a Razzie. It’s not like I ever aspired to be here, but thank you. When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there’s no way you could be a good winner.”
Billy Joel is musical royalty. There would be very few in the world who wouldn’t be able to sing along to his first number 1 song “Piano Man”. Following on from this wildly popular number 1 track, Billy Joel would go on to write another 33 US number 1′s over the next 3 decades (’70′s, ’80′s and ’90′s), be inducted into 4 highly regarded Hall’s of Fame, receive 23 Grammy nominations, win 6 of them, and sold 150 million records worldwide.
What would drive such a high achiever to feel depressed? A guy with this talent and regard should be on top of the moon, right?
Wrong. But let me start from the beginning, from what I can take of the numerous sources I am pulling together. From a young age, Billy was reluctantly sent to piano lessons on the insistence of his mother. His father was a noted and accomplished classical pianist. Billy grew to take an interest in his music, while his peers where heavily into sport. This became grounds for the abuse Joel would receive by schoolyard and neighborhood bullies. What made matters worse was that his piano teacher would also teach ballet at the same address, a welcome bonus for the bullies.
Although I cannot find any literature to suggest that he was suffering from depression at this early age, the constant bullying would have almost certainly had some effect on his sense of self worth and mental health. A common trait by mental illness sufferers, he took up boxing to defend himself. As a side note he went on to win 22 amateur bouts before handing his gloves in after receiving a broken nose.
In the late 1960′s and early ’70′s, Joel went through many bands and outfits as he made his way into the professional performing world. He recorded his first solo album Cold Spring Harbour in 1971, which did not gain recognition until many years later, so much so that by 1972 Joel had moved from New York to Los Angeles to perform gigs under a different stage name “Billy Martin”. The album included a song titled Tomorrow is Today, the lyrics of which were taken from a suicide note Joel had left in 1970 before drinking furniture polish in an attempt to take his own life.
I’ve been livin’ for the moment
But I just can’t have my way
And I’m afraid to go to sleep
‘Cause tomorrow is today
People tell me life is sweeter
But I don’t hear what they say
Nothing comes to change my life
So tomorrow is today
I don’t care to know the hour
‘Cause it’s passing anyway
I don’t have to see tomorrow
‘Cause I saw it yesterday
So I listen for an answer
But the feeling seems to stay
And what’s the use of always dreaming
If tomorrow is today
Still I’m waiting for the morning
But it feels so far away
And you don’t need the love I’m giving
So tomorrow is today
Oh, my. Goin’ to the river
Gonna take a ride and the Lord will deliver me
Made my bed, now I’m gonna lie in it
If you don’t come, I’m sure gonna die in it
Too late. Too much given
I’ve seen a lot of life and I’m damn sick of livin’ it
I keep hopin’ that you will pass my way
And some day if your dreams are leavin’ you
I’ll still believe in you
I don’t care to know the hour
‘Cause it’s passing anyway
I don’t have to see tomorrow
‘Cause I saw it yesterday
Though I’m living and I’m singing
And although my hands still play
Soon enough it will all be over
‘Cause tomorrow is today
-”Tomorrow is today”, Billy Joel
Adding to the bill (no pun intended), are 3 marriages and subsequent divorces amongst other failed high profile relationships, substance abuse and career downturns, on top of the underlying clinical depression he has been suffering. In 2002 and 2005 he admitted himself to psychiatric and rehabilitation clinics in an attempt to gain freedom.
I would like to finish on a high note (sorry!) by sharing these lyrics from a song he wrote in 1985 for the purpose of preventing teen suicide:
You’re having a hard time and lately you don’t feel so good
You’re getting a bad reputation in your neighborhood
It’s alright, it’s alright, sometimes that’s what it takes
You’re only human, you’re allowed to make your share of mistakes
(You’re only human, ooo-ooo)
You better believe there will be times in your life
When you’ll be feeling like a stumbling fool
So take it from me you’ll learn more from your accidents
Than anything that you could ever learn at school
Don’t forget your second wind
Sooner or later you’ll get your second wind
It’s not always easy to be living in this world of pain
You’re gonna be crashing into stone walls again and again
It’s alright, it’s alright, though you feel your heart break
You’re only human, you’re gonna have to deal with heartache
(You’re only human, ooo-ooo)
Just like a boxer in a title fight
You got to walk in that ring all alone
You’re not the only one who’s made mistakes
But they’re the only thing that you can truly call your own
Don’t forget your second wind
Wait in your corner until that breeze blows in
You’ve been keeping to yourself these days
Cause you’re thinking everything’s gone wrong
Sometimes you just want to lay down and die
But that emotion can be so strong
But hold on ’till that old second wind comes along
(You’re only human, ooo-ooo)
You probably don’t want to hear advice from someone else
But I wouldn’t be telling you if I hadn’t been there myself
It’s alright, it’s alright, sometimes that’s what it takes
We’re only human, we’re supposed to make mistakes
(You’re only human, ooo-ooo)
I survived all those long lonely days
When it seemed I did not have a friend
Cause all I needed was a little faith
So I could catch my breath and face the world again
Don’t forget your second wind
Sooner or later you’ll feel that momentum kick in
(One more time!)
Don’t forget your second wind
Sooner or later you’ll feel that momentum kick in
Don’t forget your second wind
(You’re only human, ooo-ooo)
-”You’re only human”, Billy Joel
WARNING: This video is extremely cheesy, but you loose your cringe after a little while The message and who he was selling the message to was all relative and would’ve been what made it popular in the day, rendering the song #9 on the US charts at the time.
Angelina Jolie suffered episodes of suicidal depression throughout her teens and early twenties. She felt isolated at Beverly Hills High School among the children of some of the area’s affluent families, as her mother survived on a more modest income, and she was teased by other students, who targeted her for being extremely thin and for wearing glasses and braces. She found it difficult to emotionally connect with other people, and as a result she started to self-harm; later commenting, “I collected knives and always had certain things around. For some reason, the ritual of having cut myself and feeling the pain, maybe feeling alive, feeling some kind of release, it was somehow therapeutic to me”. She also began experimenting with drugs; by the age of 20, she had tried “just about every drug possible,” including heroin.
Today Angelina Jolie and her just as famous partner Brad Pitt are parents to 3 adopted and 3 biological children. She is highly noted for her humanitarian work, having been awarded numerous United Nations awards, and makes regular trips to Washington to meet with policy makers regarding many third world situations. Jolie is one of the most respected personalities worldwide.
Probably the most successful author of our time, the mother of Harry Potter once suffered from very strong suicidal thoughts, and underwent Cognitive Behavior Therapy for her clinical depression.
It was actually the inspiration for the hugely successful series. She began writing the first book in a cramped apartment as a single depressed mother. A friend even helped and paid her rental bond to secure the apartment, then she could only just afford the weekly rent. After a separation from her husband in this tiny apartment at her lowest is where J.K. Rowling came to life. Her stories are now legendary, barely 10 years ago J.K. Rowling was an unknown. Just another face in the crowd, but a face that turned her adversity into a gift.
Ms Rowling dismissed the stigma associated with depression, and told a student magazine,
“What’s to be ashamed of? I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that.”
In April 2011, Ms Zeta-Jones admitted herself to a psychiatric clinic for the treatment of bi-polar II disorder. She had been receiving ongoing treatment for a number of years, but factors such as her husband Michael Douglas suffering stage 4 throat cancer took its toll.
Catherine came out and spoke of the illness to the UK mail:
“I don’t just bring myself down, I bring everyone around me down. It’s like a dark cloud..”.
A person of the status of Catherine Zeta-Jones of course draws huge amounts of attention. Despite that, the public image of Ms Zeta-Jones was that of a strong, independent lady, which she admitted was a frustrating act to uphold. She decided to talk of her disorder openly to help other sufferers realize that they are not alone, to lift stigma associated with mental illness.
Catherine Zeta-Jones quoted that she made great progress at the clinic. We will be keeping on eye on her progress!
Sir Winston Churchill, Twice Prime Minister of The United Kingdom (November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965)
Sir Winston Churchill’s most notable achievement was during his second reign as Prime Minister, where he inspired the British-American alliance to victory in World War II with dramatic words of optimism at the time they were almost defeated. He also received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953, and was the first person in history to be granted honorary U.S. citizenship.
Through the course of his life, the British Statesman was hounded by periods of manic depression (now more commonly known as bi-polar), famously referring to the disease as his “black dog”. At times he did not leave his bed for days, followed by a juxtaposition of working to excess from 8am until the early hours of the following morning. He often self medicated with alcohol and was widely known as an alcoholic, oftentimes drinking to excess at public arrangements aswell as in his own company. Churchill had two strong forces of adversity working against him: Bi-Polar and Addiction. Both mental illnesses, battles of the mind.
It has been said that the inspiration he gave to his people, at such a time in history, would not have been possible by any reasonable thinking man. Churchill believed in the ‘impossible’, and conveyed that belief to his people. As historian and psychiatrist Anthony Storr wrote in Black Dog, Kafka’s Mice, and Other Phenomena of the Human Mind:
“Had he been a stable and equable man, he could never have inspired the nation. In 1940, when all the odds were against Britain, a leader of sober judgment might well have concluded that we were finished.”
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865).
Surveys by scholars conducted since the ’40s have consistently ranked Lincoln as one of the top three presidents of the USA, often #1. The highly respected former president was instrumental in shaping modern equality laws by abolishing slavery. He successfully extinguished the infamous American Civil War, ultimately costing him his life, becoming the first assassinated American president.
In his early teens, Lincoln was known to speak of suicide on more than one occasion. He disliked hard labor and was seen by his family as lazy. The death of his best friend and speculated love interest Ann Rutledge in his mid twenties sent Lincoln into a deep and dark depression, which would take him many years to reconcile.
By his late twenties, Lincoln was climbing the ladder of success quite rapidly, all the while gaining a distinct reputation for being a depressive. In the Nineteenth Century, a successful person with major adversities such as ‘melancholy’ (now termed clinical depression) often went hand in hand. It was so widely accepted that Lord Byron once talked about a depressive’s ‘fearful gift’ of being in an almost diseased state at his worst, and a source of depth and wisdom at his best. This is The Gift Of Adversity.
Lincoln used humor quite often to help himself cope. As he once stated; ‘it’s essential for my survival’. He also, at times, spent hours a day in therapy with his doctor.
Lincoln never absolutely overcame his depression but simply repeated coping mechanisms he had learnt. He leaves a long and lasting legacy in his achievements both pre and post mortem.
To be honest I was quite ignorant to Whitney Houston’s addiction problems until now. Many of the general public are either still ignorant or are only just starting to accept that addiction and substance abuse are genuine mental illnesses. Of course this knowledge has been widely researched and accepted in the medical establishment for years.
Turns out Houston, bless her soul, battled addiction for years, remaining in an unhealthy relationship for far too long and using marijuana, cocaine, alcohol and prescription drugs to self medicate. It is a sad sad story of a most promising and beautiful career being marred by the illness.
Whitney did take control on some instances with a stint in rehab and another as an outpatient, but unfortunately it seems the disease conquered her more often than not in the later years. Her gift to the world was undeniably her unmistakable voice and daughter Bobbi Kristina, but I hope her true gift to us is a legacy which inspires sufferers to seek help.
Rest in peace Whitney Houston, may your soul shine on.
The message and who he was selling the message to was all relative and would’ve been what made it popular in the day, rendering the song #9 on the US charts at the time.
