Thornton won an Oscar for writing, directing, and starring
in Sling Blade. Thornton reported in an interview with
the Los Angeles Daily News that he became anorexic while
consciously trying to lose weight for an upcoming movie. In
the interview, Thornton would not discuss how he started
putting weight back on.13
In Diana: In Search of Herself, author Sally Bedell Smith
wrote of Diana�s experiences with mental illness, which she
believed was borderline personality disorder. Other issues
included self-mutilation, bulimia nervosa, and difficulties
sustaining relationships.14 Not everyone concurs with
Smith�s assessment.
Comedian Ferrari, in 1984, won the San Francisco Comedy Competition and became a nationwide headliner alongside Robin Williams and Jerry Seinfeld. This came to crashing halt when diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, which resulted in Ferrari separating from his wife and becoming homeless. By 2000, Ferrari was receiving treatment and returned to standup comedy four years later. Now Ferrari is playing benefits to help the homeless and
doing speaking engagements with wife on mental illness awareness.15
Aldridge helped lead the Green Bay Packers to three NFL Championships and two Super Bowls in the 1960�s. After retiring from football, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and refused treatment for the next ten years, which included two years of being homeless. After living on the streets, Aldridge sought treatment and some years later recovered. Aldridge said, �Speaking to groups has changed me. When I started, I did it as a way to keep myself stable.
But once I got well, it serves as a way to get the information out.�16
The life of mathematician John Nash was brought to the screen in Ron Howard�s Beautiful Mind. Nash a mathematical genius whose 27-page dissertation, �Non- Cooperative Games,� written in 1950 when he was 21, would be honored with the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994. At
the age of 29, Nash was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent the next twenty years roaming about in Europe and America. Returning to Princeton Nash became the sad, ghostly character on the campus��the Phantom of Fine Hall.� Nash recovered in the 1970�s and gradually returned to teaching mathematics.17
Popkin starred in Cats and Miss Siagon on Broadway and London�s West End. She went from center stage and the limousines to waiting tables at Wendy�s, after being diagnosed with schizophrenia. After two hospitalizations, she lost her livelihood, house, car, cat, dog, and boyfriend. Recovery was challenging for Popkin to return to the
Stage, but the American Musical and Dramatic Academy accepted her and she has completed several shows. Popkins is also up for two Broadway shows.18 She has joined two other younger people: Jessica Lych (Miss New York State) and Ross Szabo (director of Youth Outreach for the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign) to increase awareness mental illness in high schools.19
