‘For 17 years I’ve lived in fear someone would leak my bipolar secret. Now that person is me’
MARIAH CAREY
POP star Mariah Carey revealed yesterday that she has bipolar disorder after living “in denial and isolation” for 17 years.
The singer, known for her divalike behaviour, said she was diagnosed with the bipolar II mental health condition in 2001 and lived in “constant fear” of her secret being divulged. But now she hopes that coming forward will destigmatise mental illness.
Despite her success, Mariah, 49, who has sold more than 200 million records and amassed a fortune of £400million, told People magazine: ‘Until recently I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear someone would expose me.
“It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that any more. I sought and received treatment, I put positive people around me and I got back to doing what I love – writing songs and making music.”
Stigma
Mariah’s diagnosis was made in the same year she was admitted to a psychiatric ward, suffering what her publicist called an “emotional and physical breakdown” at the age of 31. She had just signed with Virgin Records and was to star in a film, Glitter, about an aspiring pop star.
Mariah, who has six-year-old twins, Monroe and Moroccan, with ex-husband Nick Cannon, said she decided to come forward now because “I’m just in a really good place”.
She added: “I’m hopeful we can get to a place where the stigma is lifted from people going through anything alone. It can be incredibly isolating. It does not have to define you and I refuse to allow it to define me or control me.”
Mariah said that for a long time she tried to write off her condition as a “severe sleep disorder”.
Bipolar II symptoms include depressive episodes, extreme mood swings, trouble sleeping, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.
“But it wasn’t normal insomnia and I wasn’t lying awake counting sheep,” she said. “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.”
Mariah is now taking medication that does not make her feel too tired or sluggish. “Finding the proper balance is most important,” she said. “Now I’m good. I’m in a good place.”
Mariah’s revelation produced an outpouring of support on social media. Domonik wrote: “Speaking up was a brave thing to do. It was also the right thing to do. God bless you!”
Other celebrities who have gone public with bipolar battles include Welsh actress Catherine ZetaJones, 48, who said it left her feeling “sideswiped”.
Actor Ben Stiller, 52, TV brainbox Stephen Fry, 60, and former Atomic Kitten pop star Kerry Katona, 37, have also told of their ordeals with bipolar disorder.