Being a public figure isn’t easy. They’re stripped of their privacy, scrutinized for their appearance, their behavior is constantly judged, and they can no longer enjoy or do things that regular people do. Not to mention the “friends” who are only with them for the fame or the admirers who are out of control.
It’s really no surprise that this pressure can take a toll on a person’s mental wellbeing. People are noticing this more and more as celebrities begin to exhibit strange behavior.
When redditor Darvelic asked netizens who they thought had legitimately lost their mind, they received more than 8,000 comments within a week. Scroll down to find celebrities who couldn’t cope with their fame and unfortunately got out of hand.
While you’re there make sure to check out a conversation with Darvelic who started this discussion in the first place and psychiatrist David Puder who kindly agreed to tell us more about the mental health challenges that public figures might face.
#1
Kanye. He’s def gone off the deep end.
Naptimehours:
Strange to think we’ve been saying that for nearly 20 years and he’s still out here demonstrating we haven’t seen nothing yet
Tom Cruise and all of Scientology.
#3
Elon.
I liked Elon for a while. He bought water filters for the people of Flint, Star Link is going to get high speed internet to the farthest reaches of Earth and Teslas were self-driving bad**s electric cars! All good ideas IMO. Then the stupid cyber truck. And ruining Twitter and blowing 44billion dollars. Nobody even calls it X. Now I hear he’s trying to get employees to sleep at work. What a dingleberry! People got families and pets and personal lives. Nobody wants to live at work!
It’s convenient to believe that being a celebrity is all glitter and glamor. Sure, wealth, status, and endless opportunities may create a picture of a perfect life, but it can also mask the psychological effects that come with being a public figure.
Producer Julie Crosby from Cromono International acknowledges that mental health issues in the entertainment industry are widespread and severe. Meanwhile, various studies show that rates of suicide, suicidal thinking, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse are significantly higher in show business professionals than in the general public.
We reached out to redditor nicknamed Darvelic who started this discussion in the first place. Naturally, we were curious to know what inspired to take such a question online.
“My initial inspiration was Nicki Minaj’s multi-day online rants against Megan Thee Stallion. Although rap beef can get out of hand, I found it bizarrely one-sided and maniacal. And when I heard Nicki’s song, “Big Foot”, I thought, ‘She’s lost it now.’
In truth, while Nicki’s behavior was ugly, it wasn’t out of the realm of her character. The whole drama is trivial. I’m no psychologist but I think someone who’s lost their mind, they’re tangibly self-destructive, alienating, and make you feel as though you’re the one taking crazy pills.”
#4
Rudy Guiliani. He was smart enough at one point. Now, his brain is just pickled. He’s a good lesson in what alcohol can do to you, long term.
teambob:
Rather than going down in history as a hero, he will go down as a very confused villain
#5
Most, if not all, Q-Anon followers
#6
Get Mitch Mcconnel out of there. dude is literally phasing out of consciouness.
We also reached out to a physician, psychiatrist, and host of the “Psychiatry & Psychotherapy Podcast” David Puder to find out why some celebrities may struggle with their mental health.
“There is incredible pressure on public figures, and a lot of financial vultures trying to pull away resources from them without giving much value.They often don’t end up with a good therapist, but rather some shiny gimmick that will “seek to help them”, but really just overcharge and take their money and also possibly catapult their brand forward.
I have treated famous people, and no one will ever know who or for what reasons– namely because of the sacredness of confidentiality and also different laws.This might not be the case for celebrity “coaches” or even pseudo-religious movements which prey on famous people.”
Darvelichas also wondered about the same thing many times. “I guess you could say it’s social media, or our divided political and social opinions — which all certainly play a role. And public figures are just people, after all, they’re not immune. I don’t really know, but it feels like a time of great change.”
#7
Jada Pinkett Smith
#8
Madonna. Have you seen her Instagram? Do yourself a favor and DON’T go look at it. It’s sad and pathetic.
#9
Anyone who thinks Taylor Swift is a CIA asset or whatever. That’s just hilariously dumb.
If the redditor were asked this question themselves, they would choose Elon Musk.
“His obsession with Twitter, his engagement with often disprovable right-wing rhetoric, renaming Twitter to X and thinking it’s going to be the Everything App, his erratic use of drugs, his toxic relationships with his exes and many of his children — some born through IVF or surrogacy. I can go on and on, but this is a guy who was once equated with some of the greatest minds of the modern age. Now he’s mirroring Donald Trump. It’s disturbing.”
#10
Nick Cannon? I think this is the guy. Trying to populate the world having children with as many women as he can. Just stop. Massive insecurities or ego issues.
#11
Super shocked to see no mention of Joe Rogan.
Wavemanns:
He has no mind to lose.
#12
The my pillow guy needs a conservatorship.
[deleted]:
Mike Lindell is the name you’re looking for, though a lot of people just call him the MyPillow guy. But yes, he’s insane.
Puder tells us that some warning signs of this happening to public figures can be internal as well as external.
“I think there are the internal aspects, which only the celebrity would know, decreased sleep, inability to focus, anxiety, anger, depression, suicidal thoughts, things like that.Public things that might be observed are issues with addiction, leaking out irritability, isolation, or odd statements that seem to hide something underneath.”
#13
Still Ezra Miller.
I think any celebrity who has an outstanding warrant has basically lost their mind.
#14
Greg Abbott. Seriously, dude?
Barfignugen:
I don’t think he’s lost his mind, I think he knows full well exactly what he’s doing. He’s just an evil monster.
#15
As an older guy wanting to sound hip on current events, I’ll go with Nicki Minaj.
aggibridges:
Megan Thee Stallion indirectly dissed Nicki Minaj on her latest song by saying ‘These h**s don’t be mad at Megan, these h**s mad at Megan’s Law’. Nicki Minaj felt alluded to because her husband is a convicted sex offender.
Nicki Minaj is now acting extremely erratically. She’s having IG lives where she’s sputtering literal nonsense for an extended amount of time, hurling abuse at her own fans on social media, tweeting NONSTOP, making fun of Megan for being tall, for having big feet, for being shot on the foot, making fun of her mom’s death…
Megan’s diss was a throaway line on a song, Nicki devoted the entire track to Megan, and she said a lot of vile and childish things. It’s just not a good look for someone with the career trajectory she has. Public sentiment is very much against her and has been for years, and her ramblings now feel like she has lost every shred of sanity she had.
Celebrities might feel hesitant to reach out for help due to worries about their career or public image. In this case, Puder recommends finding a reliable and professional therapist who can address their concerns.
“I would say that a good therapist will remain 100% confidential, and that can be discussed in the first appointment.They want to find a psychiatrist or some licensed professional who has a private office or does Zoom calls.I would find a psychiatrist/therapist who is ok with being the only person interacting with them (for example, there is not a large front office, but rather just a sole provider who can be the point person).
I would also look for someone who will keep what we call in psychotherapy, “the frame”- meaning someone who will keep therapy in session, and charge their normal rate for time (I charge the professional athletes/famous people I treat the same as anyone else), and has a private office.My office for example has a waiting room only for me, and therefore they will not bounce into anyone else.”
#16
Kevin Sorbo
jumpupugly:
For what it’s worth, Sorbo had three distinct strokes caused by an aneurysm in the shoulder. This caused some issues with his ability to physically perform as an actor, and likely also caused some brain damage.
This isn’t to say that brain damage causes people to be stupid or evil, but the trauma of that event – plus the limited career he had afterwards – would provide an opportunity for him to begin seeing the world through the lens of bitterness and persecution that is modern conservatism.
#17
Jaden Smith. When I saw him in 2010’s The Karate Kid I was convinced he was going to be a huge star. Now he’s just a huge……I honestly don’t know what to call him!
He has just tried too damn hard to act quirky and unique with his style of clothing and his “deep” tweets. He honestly sounds like he’s certifiably crazy.
#18
Terrance Howard. Dude thinks he’s unlocked some new math.
“Twenty years from now, they’ll know that one times one equals two. We’re about to show a new truth. The true universal math. And the proof is in these pieces (of plastic that he builds with his wife). I have created the pieces that make up the motion of the universe. We work on them about 17 hours a day. She cuts and puts on the crystals.”
What may help is a good support system, as it’s important to have people around them to whom they can talk and escape from the noise that eventually comes with success. Those who recover the best are the ones who pick up their lives right where they left off. Meanwhile, offering them therapy and a safe space where they can talk everything out can also be very beneficial.
#19
Transvestigators. There are people online on twitter who legitimately think that every famous person is trans and have had sex changes to swap their genders for some reason and they spend all day posting like skeleton and skull comparisons for various actors or other famous people, using skeletal diagrams that have obviously been photoshopped.
#20
Britney Spears. I think she had untreated post partum psychosis, and has just continued to spiral. Obviously, the conservatorship (sp?) was completely wrong of her family to do to her, but I truly think she has gone round the bend. Very sad.
#21
Ariana Grande. There’s no way she didn’t know how bad poaching that man was, if she didn’t. She’s truly lost.
#22
Vince McMahon
quool_dwookie:
Vince was always Vince. There just used to be enough hush money and a lack of digital footprint or accountability for evil powerful men. The recent stuff, I imagine, is only a teensy peek at an iceberg of things he’s done.
#23
Gary Busey
EurekaBoyd1979:
Oh he’s been off his rocker for years. I remember seeing him on Celebrity Rehab where he convinced himself that he was there to help the staff, not as a patient.
#24
Laurence Fox, apparently he did the haka while under cross examination in his recent court case (that he lost)
#25
Have no idea how it isn’t mentioned but Antonio Brown. Dude seemed much more calm and collected off the field while still being an excellent athlete. He could handle a post game interview like he was just a normal and fairly charismatic dude for years, but now I’d go as far as saying he’s legitimately insane
Happy-Measurement-57:
His info when you google him right now says that his occupations is “failing to pay child support” lmao
#26
Covid-19 made a lot of people’s minds melt. Either the actual disease, or the isolation. The list hit musicians especially hard.
Ozzy Ozborn is basically incoherent now. More so than normal.
Eric Clapton told a giant crowd to “Keep Britain white” awhile back.
And Roger Waters somehow became more of an a*****e than he was before.
#27
Dilbert guy.
Dragonfront:
He was always kooky but he had a rare disease that made it so he couldn’t speak and during that time he basically drove away everybody in his life and became a recluse. There is also a theory that he may have gotten brain damage while getting surgery to address it
#28
Graham Linehan. Once a well-loved comedy writer whose work (Father Ted, Black Books, The IT Crowd) was popular in the UK/Ireland and beyond…
…then someone pointed out a fairly transphobic joke he’d made in an episode of The IT Crowd.
Instead of doing what most comedy writers would do (“it was of it’s time, it hasn’t aged well, I wouldn’t make that joke now,” and move on) he turned overnight into a seething little anti-trans demon, spending his every waking hour on Twitter arguing with anyone who even slightly disagreed with him (right down to spending all of Christmas Day one year tweeting anti-trans s**t).
His work dried up as people understandably didn’t want to commission anything he had a hand in, lest they see their name associated with his in an way. Which meant his rage-tweeting then doubled to include anti-trans rhetoric AND moaning about being “cancelled.”
His wife left him and he lost his home. He’s now essentially your classic basement-dwelling neckbeard keyboard warrior.
#29
Tila Tequila
#30
Past Disney star Orlando Brown. Nobody talks about this enough but I legit worry for him and think something strange is happening. Look at his “interviews.” They are just him rambling drug-riddled nonsense and I think they added in questions later to make it seem like a conversation. His interviews look like they take place in a sketchy basement. He even acted this way on Dr. Phil and everyone just pretends it’s normal and that he isn’t high as a kite. I do not wish to shame this man, but I think something is going on and I know I sound insane but I legit think he needs help