Five Celebrities who have spoken openly about being neurodivergent

Neurodiversity is the idea that there are natural variations in the human brain and that there is no right or wrong way of thinking, learning, and behaving, so that we embrace differences instead of them being seen as deficits. In the past few years, neurodiversity has started to gain a lot of traction on social media platforms, and more and more people are spreading awareness and acceptance around different ways of thinking and breaking the stigma of having a disorder. Many celebrities have even come out and discussed their experiences with having a neurological difference.

So for the February Newsletter I thought it would be fun to share some examples and links to podcasts, videos and articles showcasing their stories. I hope that seeing some of these very successful people discussing how even they struggle will help anyone else struggling to feel less alone! It is so important to have a more positive representation of the diverse ways that all of our brains process information.

1. Gwen Stefani (Dyslexia)

Gwen Stefani is a very successful singer and entrepreneur. She started her career as the lead singer of No Doubt and has had a very successful solo career and other ventures. She has appeared in previous seasons of the voice as one of the coaches. Gwen has been very open about her experiences and struggles with having dyslexia and figuring it out late in life after her sons were diagnosed. That is not an uncommon experience for neurodivergent women, often times the neurological differences are genetic. She talks about how she overcompensated for her struggles and found that creating music was super helpful for her and even credits her dyslexia for giving her the creative strengths to create music. Have a listen to her episode of Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert, where she talks pretty in depth about her experiences with figuring it out late in life, I highly recommend it, I found it to be very interesting! P.S. Dax also has dyslexia!

2. Billie Eilish (Tourette's Syndrome)

Billie Eilish is an incredibly successful singer/song writer who became an overnight success at age 14 after releasing a song on soundcloud that her and her brother Finneas wrote called "Ocean Eyes." Billie has since had a very successful career and has won many awards for her work. She is also very authentic and honest about her struggles with mental health and about what it has been like for her having Tourette's Syndrome. I highly encourage you to watch this clip of her talking about it on David Letterman's show on Netflix 'My Next Guest Needs No Introduction' and if you have Netflix go watch the whole episode! Billie is such an amazing role model for neurodivergent people.

3. Daniel Radcliffe (Dyspraxia/Obsessive Compulsive Disorder OCD)

Daniel Radcliffe is a famous actor probably most well known for his portrayal of Harry Potter in the Harry Potter film franchise. He also recently starred as 'Weird Al' Yankovic in the movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, a kind of mocumentary/biopic about Al's life. The article below details how dyspraxia was part of the reason that he got into acting in the first place. He felt that he wasn't very good at school and really ended up falling in love with acting. Dyspraxia is a developmental coordination disorder, that can affect motor skills, memory, organization, concentration and speech. Daniel has also talked openly about being an alcoholic in his past. In the video below he goes on to talk about the paranoia he would feel aboout being famous and always being watched that it would drive him to drink to forget about it, but that it often made him feel even worse because then he was paranoid about people seeing him drunk. This video is just a snippet of the entire interview that he has on the show "Off Camera with Sam Jones." If you would like to listen to the full interview, he talks quite a lot about his whole career being an actor and I found it to be very interesting to listen to, so I am linking the full podcast version as well.

4. Dan Aykroyd (Autism Spectrum Disorder/Tourette's Syndrome)

Dan Aykroyd is a well known successful actor, comedian and writer who has been in many movies throughout the years. He got his big break from being a writer and actor on Saturday Night Live from 1975-1979. We also know him from popular roles that he played in the Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters! Check out the brief video below of Dan talking about being diagnosed with Tourette's and Aspergers and how that has helped shape his career as an actor! In an NPR interview also linked below, he talks about how he has always been really interested and fascinated with law enforcement, and actually studied criminology before becoming an actor. If you want to skip ahead to the part of the NPR interview where he talks about his experience with Asperger's and Tourette's, they start talking about it around the 30 min mark of the interview.

5. Solange Knowles (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD)

Solange Knowles is a famous singer, dancer and actress and started her career as a back up dancer for her sister Beyonce's girl group Destiny's Child. She has also had a successful solo career as a singer and has starred in movies like "Bring it on: All or Nothing." She opens up about being diagnosed with ADHD late in life and not believing it at first and opted for a second opinion where she was diagnosed a second time. Check out the article below that she did with Blackdoctor org.

Thank you so much for reading!! If you liked it, please consider subscribing to this monthly newsletter dedicated to all things ADHD, Neurodiversity, Mental Health and Wellbeing!