Mariah: I was scared to admit I’m bipolar
Singer hopes ‘to lift stigma’
I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear I would be exposed
BY CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN US Editor MARIAH Carey has revealed she is bipolar – after living in “constant fear” for years that her disorder would be exposed. The singer, 48, told how she was diagnosed after being placed under psychiatric care in hospital with “a physical and mental breakdown” in 2001. But after recent treatment she is now “comfortable” with saying she has bipolar II. Mariah said: “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.” The Hero singer is being helped through her ordeal by her new boyfriend – backing dancer Bryan Tanaka, 34 – after splitting up from her billionaire fiance James Packer last October.
Her breakdown came after she thought she was suffering from a sleep disorder.
She said: “It wasn’t normal insomnia. I was irritable and in constant fear of letting people down. It turns out that I was experiencing a form of mania. Eventually I just hit a wall.”
Bipolar II involves persistent elevated or irritable moods and sleeplessness. It is less serious than Bipolar I, which causes full manic episodes.
Mariah told People magazine: “I’m comfortable discussing my struggles with bipolar II disorder.
“I’m hopeful we can get to a place where the stigma is lifted.
“It can be incredibly isolating. It does not have to define you and I refuse to allow it to define me.”
The singer, who has sold more than 200 million records worldwide, shares six-year-old twins, Monroe and Moroccan, with ex-husband Nick Cannon.
MARIAH CAREY TELLS OF FEAR AFTER HER BIPOLAR DIAGNOSIS