TV star Ellen DeGeneres has opened up about her health in a Netflix comedy special. The former talk show host has revealed that she has been diagnosed with three different conditions.
In her Netflix comedy special, For Your Approval, the 68-year-old comedian said she found out she has osteoporosis, OCD, and ADHD after going through tests and therapy.
Ellen explained that she first learned about her osteoporosis after doing a bone density test. The disease weakens bones, making them more prone to fractures. She joked about it on stage and said she feels very fragile.
“I don’t even know how I’m standing up right now. I’m like a human sandcastle. I could disintegrate in the shower,” DeGeneres said, jokingly.
Osteoporosis is a condition where bones become very fragile. Per the Mayo Clinic, it often occurs when “bone mineral density and bone mass decrease, or when the structure and strength of bone changes.”
Ellen recalled how she had experienced “excruciating pain” one day and assumed she had torn a ligament.
Ellen DeGeneres reveals triple diagnosis
After getting an MRI, doctors initially believed she had arthritis. Reflecting on the challenges of getting older, she added: “It’s hard to be honest about aging and seem cool.”
The star also shared that she once had severe pain and thought she had injured herself. However, after an MRI, doctors told her it was arthritis, which can happen as people get older.
Besides the physical problems, Ellen also spoke about her mental health. She said therapy helped her discover that she has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
She explained that growing up, she did not talk much about health problems, so she never knew she had these conditions before.
Even with the diagnoses, Ellen tried to keep her sense of humor. She said that having OCD makes her focus too much on things, while ADHD makes it hard to focus at all — and she joked that the two almost balance each other out.
“I was raised in a religion, Christian Science, that doesn’t acknowledge diseases or disorders. So when I was growing up, nobody talked about anything. There was no discussion of anything,” she said, adding that looking back, she believed her father had OCD.
Revealed she has ADHD
“He would check the doorknob 15 times before we’d leave, he’d check the faucet 15 times, he would unplug all the appliances before we left the house because lightning could strike and it could catch fire. They say it could be hereditary,” she said.
However, that wasn’t all. Later in the Netflix comedy special, DeGeneres revealed that she also has ADHD. It’s a neurodevelopmental disorder that makes it difficult for her to focus. Per the National Institute of Mental Health it affects a person’s ability to concentrate, control impulses, and manage hyperactivity.
“So, I have ADD, I have OCD, I’m losing my memory,” DeGeneres explained. “But I think I’m well-adjusted because I obsess on things, but I don’t have the attention span to stick with it, and I quickly forget what I was obsessing about in the first place. So, it takes me all the way around to being well-adjusted, I think.”
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