Famous People with ADHD

Some famous people with adult ADHD are using their celebrity status to talk about their own ADHD. Find out what they have to say.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not just a childhood disorder. Studies show that ADHD may affect about 10 million people, and that 80 percent of children with ADHD symptoms grow up to have adult ADHD. Adult ADHD symptoms may include being disorganized, procrastination, forgetfulness, or having difficulty maintaining healthy relationships. For many adults, symptoms like these create lifelong difficulties, but help is available. Some celebrities with ADHD are speaking out and bringing attention to this widespread condition.

Jim Carrey

Comedian and actor Jim Carrey was always a restless child. He tells JimCarreyWorld.com that in school he would finish his assignments quickly and then start disrupting the other kids. Carrey has been open about his ADHD and uses his celebrity status to bring attention to the problem. While there is no cure for ADHD, treatments do help control the symptoms. Carrey has undergone treatment since childhood. As an adult, he has also used some of his ADHD symptoms to his advantage — becoming famous, in part, through his creativity and high energy level as a comedian.

Michael Phelps

Olympic medalist Michael Phelps is another celebrity with ADHD. His mother, Debbie Phelps, told Everyday Health that when he was 9 years old, he was diagnosed and began taking medication, which seemed to help. Phelps now channels his hyperactivity into swimming. He told Sports Illustrated that he feels like a different person in the pool. This makes sense since having a set routine to follow and being rewarded for good behavior are strategies that have been shown to help kids with ADHD.

Ty Pennington

This celebrity host of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has talked about his childhood and adult ADHD with InStyle Magazine. As a child he had trouble with hyperactivity that affected his school performance all the way through high school. He was finally diagnosed with ADHD during college and says that starting medication helped change his life. Today, Pennington is a spokesperson for a company that makes adult ADHD drugs.

James Carville

This political operative-turned-celebrity TV commentator has made his own struggles with ADHD public and spoke about ADHD at the Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder 20th Anniversary Hall of Fame Conference. Before getting his ADHD symptoms under control, he failed out of college. Eventually Carville went back to school and found he could channel his high energy into the fast-paced world of politics.

Pete Rose

Another celebrity who has made his adult ADHD public is baseball superstar Pete Rose. In his book My Prison Without Bars, Rose talks about his battle with ADHD and how ADHD symptoms may have contributed to his gambling problems. As a child, Rose recalls simply being considered a “troublemaker” by his teachers. We now know that making impulsive decisions without regard to consequence is a common ADHD symptom.

Solange Knowles

Singer Solange Knowles says that she was diagnosed with adult ADHD two times before she would believe it. She never thought of ADHD as a disorder until her diagnosis. Knowles told News24.com that she has so much energy that people often think she is high when she is sober. ADHD is sometimes more obvious in boys than in girls because boys tend to act out more, but females do get ADHD.

Michelle Rodriguez

Actress Michele Rodriguez gained her celebrity with her role on the hit television series Lost. She told Cosmopolitan that she has difficulty focusing when she is alone. Rodriguez is another example of a female celebrity with ADHD. Although boys are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, girls are increasingly being recognized as having ADHD symptoms. They may have less hyperactivity, but studies show that their ADHD often continues into adulthood.

Justin Timberlake

This Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and celebrity said in an interview with Collider.com that he has adult ADHD mixed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms. Having the two disorders together has presented a challenge, but this hasn’t stopped his success. Like Timberlake, people with ADHD may also have other mental health disorders, such as OCD, anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder.

Jamie Oliver

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was diagnosed with ADHD in childhood. He recently said on the Celebrities With Diseases Web site that he manages his ADHD symptoms with a healthy diet. As a result, Oliver now tries to help kids with ADHD do better in school through better nutrition. A recent study in Britain found that food additives like preservatives and artificial coloring may make ADHD symptoms worse.

What Can We Learn From Celebrities With Adult ADHD?

ADHD symptoms can be tough to live with, but celebrities with ADHD also show us the huge potential for enthusiasm, creativity, and spontaneity. When properly recognized, treated, and managed, people with ADHD can go on to be very successful. Some other past “celebrities” you may have heard of who are thought to have exhibited ADHD symptoms are Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, and Wolfgang Mozart.

(everydayhealth.com)

Karina Smirnoff

The Ukrainian-born Dancing With the Stars pro said ADHD was not a well-known disorder in her home country -- in an interview with ET, she reported she was diagnosed just two years ago.

Will Smith

Actor, singer and one of Parenting.com's hot celeb dads said on the Celebrities with Diseases website that growing up, he was the "fun one who had trouble paying attention", and that today, he would've been diagnosed with ADHD. He also recalls having trouble reading -- these days he follows along with books on tape.

Sir Richard Branson

Virgin Founder and adventurer Sir Richard Branson has ADHD -- but that hasn't stopped him from owning a major airline, sending tourists into space, or building an underwater plane.

Branson's living proof of the statistic reported in Psychology Today that people with ADHD are 300% more likely to start their own company -- indeed, he started up his own magazine called Student when he was just 16.

Paris Hilton

The socialite/heiress/reality TV starlet said in her post-jail interview with Larry King on CNN that she takes Adderall to manage her ADHD, which she's struggled with since she was 12.

Christopher Knight

Remember Knight as middle bro Peter on The Brady Bunch? He's said on NCL.org that in watching energetic, quirky Peter, viewers were also watching Knight's public struggle with ADHD. (He also had trouble memorizing lines.)

After difficulties with reading and writing, and dropping out of college, Knight was eventually diagnosed with ADHD nine years ago. He compares getting medication for ADHD to getting glasses for poor vision.

Howie Mandel

The comedian and host of Deal or No Deal is known for his germ phobia -- but he's reported that he also deals with ADHD. In his public service announcements for Adult ADHD, Mandel recalls not being able to focus or sit still in class as a kid, but he wasn't diagnosed until he was an adult.

Terry Bradshaw

Former NFL quarterback (he won the Pittsburgh Steelers four Super Bowl titles) was diagnosed with depression after he admitted he often had anxiety attacks before games. He also reported he has ADHD, and struggled even as a child.

Bradshaw now frequently speaks out against the stigmas of mental disorders, hoping he can help others -- particularly, he said in an interview on FireChief.com, the "big old macho guys"-- get help.

Paul Orfalea, Founder of Kinko's

Paul Orfalea's dyslexia and "ADD to the max"may have caused him to flunk second grade and earn Cs and Ds in college -- but, in an interview with ADDitude magazine, he credits ADHD with helping him start the copy chain Kinko's (so-called for his own nickname, due to his curly hair). "With ADD, you're curious,"he said.

Orfalea also says his ADHD lets him think big without getting weighed down by details, saying "I can't write a letter and I can't fix a machine [...] I hire capable people to handle that."Orfalea also offers up a barb for the No Child Left Behind Act, and how it would have impacted him with his ADHD: "I would still be in third grade, because that's how bad a speller I am."

David Neeleman, Founder of JetBlue Airways

David Neeleman reported in an interview with ADDitude magazine his ADHD prevents him from being detail-oriented and completing doing day-to-day tasks, saying, "I have an easier time planning a 20-aircraft fleet than I do paying the light bill."

But Neeleman credits his success, and creation of JetBlue, with his ADHD -- saying that, with the disorder comes creativity and the ability to think outside the box.

Bruce Jenner

Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner said on CHADD's (Children and Adults with ADHD) leadership blog that he struggled in grade school with attention issues, until he won a race in fifth grade. Being the fastest kid in the class gave him his "little arena" to focus on -- and eventually, the tools to succeed in the big arena, when he took the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

(parenting.com)

Bill Cosby

Cher
Dustin Hoffman
George Burns
Henry Winkler
James Steward
Kirk Douglas
Robin Williams
Steve McQueen
Sylvester Stallone
Tom Smothers
Anne Bancroft
Whoopi Goldberg
Danny Glover
Babe Ruth
Michael Jordan
Magic Johnson
Jason Kidd
Chris Kaman
Nolan Ryan
Leonardo da Vinci
Wright Brothers
Galileo
Albert Einstein
William Wrigley

(celebritydisease.blogspot.com)