THE FULL WAX
RUBY WAX steps back in time to discover more about her mental health issues
RUBY WAX’S FAMILY history has always been shrouded in mystery. Her late parents were Jews who fled Vienna just before World
War Two and resettled in America. But they never spoke about their traumatic past, and Ruby, an only child, knew little of her heritage.
Now, in this week’s Who Do
You Think You Are?, the comedianturned-mental-health-campaigner learns more about her ancestors.
We asked Ruby to share her discoveries…
YOUR PARENTS, EDMUND AND
BERTA, NEVER BREATHED A WORD OF THEIR LIVES UNDER THE NAZIS. WHY WAS THAT? Everything was strange about them. Whether they were trying to save me from the stress of what happened to them I don’t know, but by keeping it a secret they made me more stressed. I would have understood if my mother had once said to me, ‘I wasn’t always this way and I had a life before this.’ YOUR FATHER MADE A RISKY ESCAPE FROM EUROPE AS A STOWAWAY ON A BOAT. HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT?
It explained me to myself. I now understand the pushiness, the insatiability and the almost manic drive I have. It made me understand where that came from and that’s quite a relief.
HAS MAKING THE DOCUMENTARY HELPED YOU FORGIVE YOUR PARENTS FOR ANY UNKINDNESS TOWARD YOU? I already did forgive them, but now I kind of understand that it wasn’t their fault. Clearly, my mother had mental illness, and they had had lives that were badly interrupted. If they had just told me something, we could have had a truce. But we can’t go back now.
HOW DID YOU FEEL TO DISCOVER OTHER WOMEN IN YOUR FAMILY HISTORY SUFFERED MENTAL ILLNESS? It’s interesting. My mother would scream at me in the street, and only a crazy person does that. Finding out about her past was like finding gold – it made my mother make sense.