Are there any celebrities who’ve acknowledged that they or family members have epilepsy?

I’d think if there were it would be helpful to others, including spreading awareness in the general public.

I can’t think of any that I have heard talk about epilepsy, then again they don’t talk about many of their medical problems.
I think it would help if they did.  It would bring more awareness to every disease or medical condition.

Homer - Feb 03, 2010 09:48am

Are there any celebrities who’ve acknowledged that they or family members have epilepsy?
I’d think if there were it would be helpful to others, including spreading awareness in the general public.

The problem is that they don’t have to because it has nothing to do with their profession. I mean, yes maybe an actor with epilepsy will talk to the director in a movie production regarding his condition so the director will be ready if he gets seizures when he is doing his job. But there is no point to admit it to public. Instead, it could hurt his career.

I admire Michael J. Fox for his work with Parkinson’s Research, and I’d say that’s an example of a celebrity being frank about his condition.

Even though in his case, in the later stages of his disease it was obvious that he was affected and it couldn’t be hidden.

The celebrity that I really admire for telling his illness to the public was Christopher Reeves. He even made a foundation that would help other people who are paralyzed like him.

Regarding celebrities with epilepsy, I don’t know anyone who would tell this publicly. I’m sure there are a few but they have to keep it a secret because it will affect their career.

I made a quick research on the celebrities with epilepsy. Did you know that Danny Glover has epilepsy and seizures early in his life? Based on what I read in Wikipedia, he control his illness by concentrating not to have seizures and it’s like self-hypnosis according to him.

strongheart - Feb 11, 2010 05:21pm

I made a quick research on the celebrities with epilepsy. Did you know that Danny Glover has epilepsy and seizures early in his life? Based on what I read in Wikipedia, he control his illness by concentrating not to have seizures and it’s like self-hypnosis according to him.

Really? I never knew before that Danny Glover has epilepsy. In that case, he must have done a great job in self controlling his illness, considering how hard he had to work in the making of Lethal Weapon series.

Richard Burton and Danny Glover are the only two I could find within a Google search, I knew about Glover but I never knew abot Burton. I figure sometimes when you are in the spotlight that much, fans might have too many questions so people are still timid about breaking out and trying to explain (just the same as we are as the “little people”).

I found a couple more celebrities with epilepsy Dame Agatha Christie the mystery writer, Truman Capote, Richard Burton, Michael Wilding and Margaux Hemingway. The article I found this in also commented on how there are no known “younger” celebrities that people know about.

It would be nice if they acknowledged it but epilepsy is still not talked about.  Every time I tell someone I have epilepsy they look at me askance as if I’m an idiot.  I know a lot of people with mental retardation have seizures too but it’s not as if all of us are mentally incompetent.  I wish a celebrity with epilepsy would come forward and tell everyone so we could get some of the old stereotypes out of the way.

Honestly, if I were a celebrity I wouldn’t want to acknowledge any sort of condition just because the general public and the media are so vicious (and uneducated).  I admire the celebrities who have spoken out about various diagnoses, especially in the interest of educating people and finding cures, but I really can’t blame them if they keep things concealed because if living with something like epilepsy isn’t hard enough, I imagine the scrutiny of millions of people wouldn’t make it any easier.

I agree with you Ocali while it would give those of us dealing with it a role model of sorts their lives are already under so much scrutiny you can’t blame them for not acknowledging it.

I think this is particularly true for younger celebrities.  It seems like the up-and-coming celebrities are scrutinized the most.  If being young and trying to handle stardom isn’t hard enough, being young and trying to figure everything out plus being vilified for something like epilepsy would be more than most people could deal with.

I can’t think of any off the top of my head. I don’t think epilepsy gets near as much attention as many other conditions do.