Ten Famous People Who Suffer From Anxiety

Anxiety can affect everyone and anyone. Approximately one in five Americans suffer from a mental health illness in any given year. Whether or not you’re famous, you are not immune to the risk of anxiety. The wealthiest and most successful people in the world can still suffer from anxiety, making them human just like the rest of us. Check out the following list of some of the most successful celebrity names that you probably didn’t know suffer from anxiety.  

Ten Famous People Who Suffer From Anxiety

Abraham Lincoln

Although it is slightly more difficult to diagnosis someone who is no longer living, many scholars believe that Abe suffered from both severe depression and anxiety. This diagnosis should really come as no surprise, considering the number of problems Lincoln dealt with during his presidency. As the world around him was falling apart, Lincoln once said: “we live in the midst of alarms; anxiety beclouds the future; we expect some new disaster with each newspaper we read.” Talk about feeling the pressure.

Emma Stone

Emma Stone once describe her first panic attack, saying “the first time I had a panic attack I thought the house was burning down.” For many, this statement perfectly sums up both the fear and the distress that people feel when a panic attack strikes. For the next 3 years, Emma Stone suffered from severe panic attacks, often asking her mom over and over exactly what was going to happen in a given day. She just wanted to make sure that no one was going to die or nothing terrible was going to happen (something we would all like to know).  Today Emma Stone still deals with panic attacks but has developed healthy coping strategies to handle them.

Adele

One of the most famous singers in the world suffered from anxiety long before hitting incredible fame in 2011 and 2012. She suffers from panic attacks, social phobia and even stage fright (go figure!). Although she probably still experiences quite a bit of anxiety, she has been able to work through her stage fright, as evidenced by the fact that she performs to thousands of people in any single show.

Scarlett Johansson

Just because she plays a badass woman in movies doesn’t mean that Scarlett Johansson does not feel her fair share of anxiety. She often describes how she feels anxious before filming a new movie, sometimes experiencing severe anxiety attacks during this time.  

David Beckham

Despite being a successful soccer player and worldwide celebrity, David Beckham lives with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). His obsession is order, specifically pairs, and he becomes very uncomfortable when dealing with numbers that are not in pairs or are not even.  Of course, he didn’t let this stop him from becoming the biggest soccer superstar the world has ever seen.

Caitlyn Jenner

If you haven’t heard by now, Bruce Jenner transitioned into a woman in 2015, now named Caitlyn Jenner. But Bruce Jenner felt like a woman since childhood and actually began taking hormones in the ’80s.  When Caitlyn committed to the process and underwent 10-hour facial surgery, she suffered a major panic attack afterward. Although this type of anxiety is completely normal to experience right after making such a dramatic change, it’s still scary to experience firsthand (as anyone who’s experienced a panic attack will tell you).

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey can get really busy sometimes. It was during one of these busy moments (filming “The Butler” and making numerous celebrity guest appearances) that Oprah experienced one of her first severe panic attacks. She describes it as thinking “if I don’t calm down I’m gonna be in serious trouble.” Probably a statement we’ve all said to ourselves at some point when dealing with anxiety.

Johnny Depp

Johnny doesn’t speak about his problems with anxiety very often. Recently, his negative relationship with alcohol has been more apparent. However, Johnny’s been suffering from social anxiety for years. He spoke about his ongoing panic attacks in the past and also the fact that he hates being a celebrity, saying, “I never wanted to be the guy people looked at. I don’t think of myself as being a celebrity; it’s too mortifying.”

Barbara Streisand

Barbara Streisand developed an intense fear for performing after she infamously forgot the lyrics to the song she was singing at a Central Park concert. This experience led her to a nearly 30-year hiatus from public appearances, aside from charity events. She could only begin performing again when she worked through the panic attacks and anxiety disorder symptoms she developed. It’s reported that medication was a part of treatment for her symptoms, which just goes to show that even celebrities are human and need assistance sometimes.

Donny Osmond

Osmond constantly worried that he would not be successful in show business, which led to an intense anxiety disorder that left him unable to hand any situation. His panic attacks would be so severe that he could be found in the fetal position in the corner of a room on any given occasion. To get help, he sought professional and mental help, including using medication to support his treatment and control the anxiety symptoms.

Anxiety and anxiety disorders can strike anyone. No one is immune to problems with mental health, celebs included, which is why it’s so important for everyone to take positive action to keep their mental health strong. Whether that be finding effective coping strategies for panic attacks, saying positive affirmations to yourself when you are feeling depressed, or even just practicing breathing techniques to keep anxiety under control, there are many ways to relieve anxiety – you just got to give each method a try until you find a technique that works for you and your anxiety.

Resouces:

13 Famous People With Anxiety Disorders. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/famous-people-with-anxiety-disorder

Taryn. (2016, March 29). 10 Famous People with Anxiety Disorders. Retrieved from https://www.socialworkdegreeguide.com/10-famous-people-with-anxiety-disorders/

Weingus, L. (2015, June 24). 7 Celebrities Describe What It’s Like To Suffer A Panic Attack. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/celebrities-anxiety-panic-attacks_n_7639478