Skip to main content

100 Sad Days: Day 20; Tears of a Clown

Everyone always says "but you are always the life and soul of the party. You are always smiling. You are the last person I thought that would suffer from depression". 

I have spoken about it before: it's all about masks and putting on a face. No, that's not true, it isn't all about that. I am naturally a happy-go-lucky person. Just sometimes I am not and I used to feel the need to hide it behind larger laughs and smiles. 

Today I am looking at Comedians and why so many suffer with depression. This isn't in light of the recent sad news about Robin Williams as this blog had already been written. However I feel a need to mention him too. 

When we think of comedians and depression we think Jack Dee. His act was born out of a lack of success and he went on the stage once miserable and it took off from there. However he (as far as I know) doesn't suffer with this disease. 

I think the route of the problem lies in the mass highs. And from a great height there is always a great low. Keeping up appearances can be tiring for anyone especially those in the "funny" spotlight. I Googled comedians (and comedic actors/writers) with depression and the list is astounding:-
Caroline Aherne, Woody Allen, Drew Barrymore, Jim Carey, Ellen DeGeneres, Stephen Fry, Tony Hancock, Frankie Howerd, Hugh Laurie, Spike Milligan, Dudley Moore, Bill Oddie, Jimmy Perry, Peter Sellers, Catherine Tate, David Walliams, Ruby Wax, Kenneth Williams, Owen Wilson. 

Not all admit to depression but some have commented on the hardship of being a top comedian. These include; Peter Cook, Miranda Hart, Groucho Marx, Eric Morecambe. 

Sadly some of our best comics couldn't see a way out and committed suicide (albeit in the recent case this is still just allegedly).  It seems creative and highly renowned scientific types are at risk too:-
Ray Charles; Darwin, Eminem, Gaugin, Hemingway, Keats, Matisse, Mozart, Newton, Rockefeller, Tolstoy, Twain, Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf...

Unsurprisingly those in the spotlight have struggled too:- 
Winston Churchill, Courtney Cox, Jonny Depp, Kirsten Dunst, Harrison Ford, Hepburn, Beyoncé, JK Rowling.

The lists go on and on. This isn't something you are alone in despite the fact that the disease makes you believe you are.  I am not promising there is a quick way out, but seek help and you can start to see the dim far off light at the end of a long dark tunnel. Trust me. 




Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for commenting

Popular posts from this blog

London Calling

I am no longer based "in town" and I never thought I'd miss it. Yet every Wednesday when I am London bound I find myself looking forward to what I will be greeted by. It's not the hustle and bustle - the fast moving commuters and slow shuffling tourists. It's not the shops and bargains abound. It's the buildings, the Underground, the knowing smile you may get from a fellow passenger, or the sarcastic comment of a Tube driver. I love London and its diversity. I love that you can walk just a short distance and be greeted by a whole new world. I love that you can randomly bump into an old friend you haven't seen for years. Making our big world smaller every day. I love St Paul's how proud it stands in the heart of the City. The fact it has survived wars and still attracts throngs of people to it everyday. I love the pomp and circumstance of the City and its Idiosyncrasies. I love that the museums are free and that you can meander around beautifu...
Post a Comment
Read more

LuluSLR: What depression means to me (first published in July 2014)

As a teenager we lived next door to a lady with depression.   She and her husband were lovely people, they would always stop and chat, but sometimes she would retreat and we wouldn't see her for months. Instead we would only see Ernie on his daily walk. Then suddenly she would be back beside him with long hair (Gladys always had short hair). I didn't really take much notice but can remember my mum commenting about Gladys and her long hair meaning she had been depressed.   Now, looking back, I can see how they were connected. How Glady wouldn't want to leave the house and thus her hair would grow and she would look unkempt when she did reappear. I get it now. Growing up depression wasn't really something I knew much about. I know members of my family have suffered with it but it just kind of passed me by. After all we all have sad days or  short periods. Well that's what I thought. Just get on with it. Keep smiling.   However my short periods would get longer...
Post a Comment
Read more

100 Sad Days; Day 34: Say it Like you Mean it

Elton John was wrong. Sorry is not the hardest word. In fact it is all to easily said and not meant.  For years I thought that flowers were a sad excuse for a sorry. Now I realise that what is worse is the empty shell of a sorry. The echo of an unmeant apology received in hope but ushered in haste.  I cannot count the times I have heard the word. From a forced apology "say you are sorry" to one that is said unkept.  We all say sorry. We bump in to someone and manners tell us to apologise. We drop something and we apologise. Sorry here is lighthearted but still meant. Kids fight or shout and apologise as they are taught to do. Sometimes they mean it sometimes they just say it. They are kids after all.  Adults should know better.  Sorry should mean just that. It isn't an excuse for bad behaviour. It isn't a "make everything better with one word". It should be said with the mouth, the heart and the mind.  If you are sorry then be sor...
Post a Comment
Read more