At 66, Ellen DeGeneres Reveals Reveals Triple Health Diagnosis
Ellen DeGeneres opened up about aging and three health diagnoses.
She revealed her thoughts on her body’s changes in her new Netflix special, For Your Approval.
“I don’t even know how I’m standing up right now. I’m like a human sandcastle,” she said.
In For Your Approval, a Netflix special released on September 24, Ellen DeGeneres got candid about aging and multiple health diagnoses that have come with it. The 66-year-old revealed that she has “full-on osteoporosis,” obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD).
DeGeneres discovered the osteoporosis or progressive bone weakness after taking a bone density test. “I don’t even know how I’m standing up right now. I’m like a human sandcastle. I could disintegrate in the shower,” she joked. “It’s hard to be honest about aging and seem cool.”
Also affecting her limbs is arthritis, she noted. “I had excruciating pain one day and I thought I tore a ligament or something and I got an MRI and they said, ‘No, it’s just arthritis,’” she continued. “I said, ‘How did I get that?’ And he said, ‘Oh it just happens at your age.’”
The special marks DeGeneres’ return to the small screen after The Ellen DeGeneres Show ended its 19-season run in 2022 (apparently in response to allegations that she cultivated a toxic workplace environment). Since then, the talk show host said she has been in therapy and learned how her mental health informed her leadership.
“I may have OCD because a therapist said so and I said, ‘Yes I am very organized,’ because I thought that was the O,” DeGeneres shared. “I didn’t know what OCD was. 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.”
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), OCD is a condition that causes uncontrollable and recurring thoughts, also known as obsessions, which sometimes prompt repetitive behaviors or compulsions in response. Some people experience only obsessions or only compulsions. In any case, it can be significantly distressing and time-consuming.
Upon learning about OCD, DeGeneres had an a-ha moment. “I look back now and I realize my dad for sure had OCD. 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,” she recalled. “They say it could be hereditary.” DeGeneres’ wife, Portia de Rossi, agreed that DeGeneres has some OCD tendencies, she said. But DeGeneres always saw herself as more “careful” than obsessive, she concluded.
On the topic of mental health, DeGeneres said her obsessions tend to get whisked away by her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which creates a cycle. (She actually referred to her condition as ADD or attention deficit disorder, which is now considered an outdated term for the behaviors.) ADHD is marked by persistent symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity that interfere with functioning or development, per the NIMH.
“My ADD makes it really hard to sit down and focus on anything at all,” she explained. “I mean, do you know how hard it was for me to put this together? Of course you don’t. Why would I ask that question? It’s hard for me to focus.”
She continued: “So, I have ADD, I have OCD, I’m losing my memory. 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,” DeGeneres said. “So, it takes me all the way around to being well-adjusted, I think.”
For Your Approval is reportedly DeGeneres’ final stand-up special, now streaming on Netflix.
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