Whatever the cause of it is, mental illness can happen to anyone. Whether you're rich or poor, tall or short, black or white, famous or not, you have just as equal a chance of getting it. If you become aware of it, you'll see it's as common as night and day. You probably have a friend, relative, co-worker, or acquaintance who has depression right now; who is experiencing difficulty from a loss in their life be it a job or loved one. Or it could be that they are having trouble in school, like being bullied which could in fact cause them to contemplate sucide. Or maybe they're all of a sudden experiencing too much stress and feel like they're having some sort of emotional breakdown.

Here is a list of famous individuals and cultural creatives who have also lived life with mental illness.

1. Paula Deen    Agoraphobia and panic attacks
2. Billy Joel    alcohol and depression
3. Craig Ferguson    alcoholic
4. Karen Carpenter    anorexia nervosa
5. Sandra Dee    anorexia nervosa
6. Tracey Gold    anorexia nervosa, attention deficit disorder;
7. Richard Simmons    anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa;
8. Kurt Cobain    attention deficit disorder and bipolar depression
9. Michael Phelps     attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
10. Doug Flutie, Jr.    autism
11. Bill Oddie    bipolar disorder
12. DMX    bipolar disorder
13. Frank Bruno    bipolar disorder
14. James Dean Bradfield    bipolar disorder
15. Jane Pauley    bipolar disorder
16. Macy Gray    bipolar disorder
17. Ozzy Osbourne    bipolar disorder
18. Rosemary Clooney    bipolar disorder
19. Sinead O’Connor    bipolar disorder
20. Tony Slattery    bipolar disorder
21. Mel Gibson    bipolar disorder
22. Britney Spears    bipolar and postnatal depression
23. Stephen Fry    bipolar depression
24. Alonzo Spellman    bipolar disorder
25. Art Buchwald    bipolar disorder
26. Axl Rose    bipolar disorder
27. Bert Yancey    bipolar disorder
28. Bill Lichtenstein    bipolar disorder
29. Brian Wilson    bipolar disorder
30. Burgess Meredith    bipolar disorder
31. Dimitrius Underwood    bipolar disorder
32. Francis Ford Coppola    bipolar disorder
33. Gaetano Donizetti    bipolar disorder
34. J.P. Morgan    bipolar disorder
35. Jack Irons    bipolar disorder
36. Jean-Claude Van Damme    bipolar disorder
37. Jimmy Piersall    bipolar disorder
38. John Gibson    bipolar disorder
39. John Mulheren    bipolar disorder
40. Joshua Logan    bipolar disorder
41. Kate Millett    bipolar disorder
42. Kristy McNichol    bipolar disorder
43. Larry Flynt    bipolar disorder
44. Linda Hamilton    bipolar disorder
45. Ludwig van Beethoven    bipolar disorder
46. Margaret Trudeau Kemper    bipolar disorder
47. Murray Pezim    bipolar disorder
48. Ned Beatty    bipolar disorder
49. Patty Duke    bipolar disorder
50. Pierre Péladeau    bipolar disorder
51. Robert Boorstin    bipolar disorder
52. Robert Campeau    bipolar disorder
53. Robert Lowell    bipolar disorder
54. Robert Munsch    bipolar disorder
55. Spike Milligan    bipolar disorder
56. Ted Turner    bipolar disorder
57. Alvin Ailey    bipolar disorder (aka “manic depression”)
58. Abbie Hoffman    bipolar disorder (speculated)
59. Isaac Newton    bipolar disorder (suspected)
60. Vivien Leigh    bipolar disorder after miscarriage
61. Kitty Dukakis    bipolar disorder, alcoholism; substance abuse;
62. Patricia Cornwell    bipolar disorder, anorexia nervosa, anorexia bulimia;;
63. Carrie Fisher    bipolar disorder, substance abuse;
64. Shecky Greene    bipolar disorder, with severe panic attacks
65. Charley Pride    bipolar disorder; alcoholism
66. John Daly    bipolar disorder; alcoholism, gambling addiction;
67. Jaco Pastorius    bipolar disorder; alcoholism; substance abuse
68. Winston Churchill    bipolar disorder; dyslexia
69. Frances Lear    bipolar disorder;, substance abuse
70. Catherine zeta jones    bipolar II
71. Adam Ant (Stuart Goddard)    bipolar disorder
72. Doug Ferrari    borderline personality disorder
73. Marsha Linehan    bpd
74. Adam Rickett    bulimia nervosa
75. Barbara Niven    bulimia nervosa
76. Herb McCauley    bulimia nervosa
77. Jane Fonda    bulimia nervosa
78. Ally Sheedy    bulimia nervosa; substance abuse
79. Sir Elton John    bulimia nervosa; substance abuse, alcoholism;
80. Princess Diana    Bulimia nevosa, depression and multiple suicide attempts
81. Paula Abdul    bullimia nervosa
82. Alanis Morissette    clinical depression
83. Alma Powell    clinical depression
84. Anne Sexton    clinical depression
85. Ben Vereen    clinical depression
86. Benjamin Disraeli    clinical depression
87. Billy Joel    clinical depression
88. Boris Yeltsin    clinical depression
89. Buzz Aldrin    clinical depression
90. Carmen Miranda    clinical depression
91. Cary Grant    clinical depression
92. Charles Schulz    clinical depression
93. Charley Pell    clinical depression
94. Clara Bow    clinical depression
95. Connie Francis    clinical depression
96. Damon Wayans    clinical depression
97. Darryl Strawberry    clinical depression
98. Diane Arbus    clinical depression
99. Dick Clark    clinical depression
100. Dolly Parton    clinical depression
101. Dorothy Day    clinical depression
102. Drew Carey    clinical depression
103. Dwight Gooden    clinical depression
104. Eminem  clinical depression
105. Emma Thompson    clinical depression
106. Eric Clapton    clinical depression
107. Ernest Hemingway    clinical depression
108. Eugene O’Neill    clinical depression
109. F. Scott Fitzgerald    clinical depression
110. Frank Lloyd Wright    clinical depression
111. George Eliot (Marian Evans)    clinical depression
112. Georgia O’Keeffe    clinical depression
113. Harrison Ford    clinical depression
114. Hermann Hesse    clinical depression
115. Hunter Tylo    clinical depression
116. Irving Berlin    clinical depression
117. Jack Farrell    clinical depression
118. James Forrestal    clinical depression
119. James Garner    clinical depression
120. Janet Jackson    clinical depression
121. Jessica Lange    clinical depression
122. Jim Carrey    clinical depression
123. Joey Kramer    clinical depression
124. Joey Slinger    clinical depression
125. John Kenneth Galbraith    clinical depression
126. John Quincy Adams    clinical depression
127. Jose Canseco    clinical depression
128. Jules Feiffer    clinical depression
129. Karen Kain    clinical depression
130. Kendall Gill    clinical depression
131. Larry King    clinical depression
132. Lawton Chiles    clinical depression
133. Leonard Bernstein    clinical depression
134. Leonard Cohen    clinical depression
135. Mark Rothko    clinical depression
136. Meriwether Lewis    clinical depression
137. Mike Wallace    clinical depression
138. Morrissey (S.P.)    clinical depression
139. Natalie Cole    clinical depression
140. Neil Simon    clinical depression
141. Norman Mailer    clinical depression
142. Pablo Picasso    clinical depression
143. Pat Lafontaine    clinical depression
144. Patrick Kennedy    clinical depression
145. Paul Gascoigne    clinical depression
146. Paul Simon    clinical depression
147. Pete Harnisch    clinical depression
148. Peter Gabriel    clinical depression
149. Queen Victoria    clinical depression
150. Ray Charles    clinical depression
151. Rick Springfield    clinical depression
152. Robert McFarlane    clinical depression
153. Rod Steiger    clinical depression
154. Rodney Dangerfield    clinical depression
155. Sarah McLachlan    clinical depression
156. Scott Donie    clinical depression
157. Sheryl Crow    clinical depression
158. Sigmund Freud    clinical depression
159. Sir Anthony Hopkins    clinical depression
160. Sting (Gordon Sumner)    clinical depression
161. Susan Powter    clinical depression
162. Sylvia Plath    clinical depression
163. Tennessee Williams    clinical depression
164. Theodore Dreiser    clinical depression
165. Thomas Eagleton    clinical depression
166. Tipper Gore    clinical depression
167. Tracy Thompson    clinical depression
168. Walker Percy    clinical depression
169. William Styron    clinical depression
170. Yves Saint Laurent    clinical depression
171. Calvin Coolidge    clinical depression (speculated)
172. Elizabeth Hartman    clinical depression (speculated)
173. Tiberius    clinical depression (speculated)
174. Vincent Foster    clinical depression (speculated)
175. Edgar Allan Poe    clinical depression (speculated); alcoholism
176. Richey James    clinical depression, anorexia nervosa;;alcoholism
177. Robin Williams    clinical depression, learning disability;
178. Marie Osmond    clinical depression, post-partum
179. Jack Kerouac    clinical depression, substance abuse, severe alcoholism;
180. Tammy Wynette    clinical depression, substance abuse;
181. Ann-Margret    clinical depression; alcoholism
182. Hart Crane    clinical depression; alcoholism
183. Robert Young    clinical depression; alcoholism
184. Spencer Tracy    clinical depression; alcoholism
185. Drew Barrymore    clinical depression; alcoholism, substance abuse;
186. Cole Porter    clinical depression; alcoholism; paranoid delusions; obsessive-compulsive disorder (speculated)
187. Winona Ryder    clinical depression; anxiety
188. Daniel Johns    clinical depression; anxiety disorder;eating disorder
189. James Taylor    clinical depression; bipolar disorder
190. Vincent van Gogh    clinical depression; bipolar disorder (speculated)
191. Charles Dickens    clinical depression; bipolar disorder (suspected)
192. Joan Rivers    clinical depression; bulimia nervosa
193. George S. Patton    clinical depression; dyslexia
194. Audrey Hepburn    clinical depression; eating disorders
195. Leo Tolstoy    clinical depression; hypochondriasis; alcoholism; substance abuse
196. Donny Osmond    clinical depression; social phobia
197. Jackson Pollock    clinical depression; substance abuse
198. Kris Kristopherson    clinical depression; substance abuse
199. Judy Garland    clinical depression;,substance abuse
200. Kurt Vonnegut    clinical depression/bipolar
201. Phil Spector    clinical depression/bipolar
202. Richard Dreyfuss    clinical depression/bipolar
203. Marilyn Monroe    clinical depression/suicide
204. David Bowie    crying but not diagnosed but lots of family mental health issues
205. Alastair Campbell    depression
206. Ben Moody    depression
207. Fiona Phillips    depression
208. Graeme Obree    depression
209. Hugh Laurie    depression
210. Keisha Buchanan    depression
211. Kylie Minogue    depression
212. Lenny Henry    depression
213. Lord Bragg    depression
214. Meg Mathews    depression
215. Mel C:    depression
216. Melinda Messenger    depression
217. Neil Lennon    depression
218. Robbie Williams    depression
219. Ruby Wax    depression
220. Russell Grant    depression
221. Sarah Lancashire    depression
222. Trisha Goddard    depression
223. Uma Thurman    depression
224. Jack Dee    depression
225. Dick Cavett    depression – found electro shock therapy helpful
226. Delta Burke    depression and compulsive hoarding
227. George Michael    depression and fear
228. Patsy Palmer    depression and panic attacks
229. Angelina Jolie    depression and self harm/OCD
230. Dame Kelly Holmes    depression and self harm
231. Mike Tyson    depression and severe insecurities and anger
232. Heath Ledger    depression, anxiety and sleep depravation
233. Herschel Walker    dissociative identity disorder
234. Roseanne    dissociative identity disorder (aka “multiple personality disorder”); obsessive-compulsive disorder; clinical depression; agoraphobia
235. Courtney Love    drub abuse, clinical depression
236. Sophie Anderton    drug addiction and depression
237. Alexander Graham Bell    dyslexia
238. Alfred Taubman    dyslexia
239. Charles Schwab    dyslexia
240. Craig McCaw    dyslexia
241. David Boies    dyslexia
242. David Murdock    dyslexia
243. Edward McVaney    dyslexia
244. John Chambers    dyslexia
245. Lewis Preston    dyslexia
246. Nelson Rockefeller    dyslexia
247. Richard Branson    dyslexia
248. Thomas Alva Edison    dyslexia
249. Tom Cruise    dyslexia
250. Walt Disney    dyslexia
251. Whoopi Goldberg    dyslexia
252. William Hewlett    dyslexia
253. Woodrow Wilson    dyslexia
254. Albert Einstein    dyslexia (speculated)
255. Margaux Hemingway    dyslexia; alcoholism; clinical depression (speculated)
256. Justine Bateman    eating disorders
257. Amy Heckerling    eating disorders; obsessive-compulsive disorder
258. Danny Glover    learning disability
259. George Washington    learning disability
260. Harry Andersen    learning disability
261. Henry Winkler    learning disability
262. Caroline Aherne    major depressive disorder
263. Margot Kidder    manic depression (Bipolar) and paranoia
264. Denise Welch    nervous breakdown
265. Howard Stern    obsessive-compulsive disorder
266. Howie Mandel    obsessive-compulsive disorder
267. Marc Summers    obsessive-compulsive disorder
268. Howard Hughes    OCD (clinical depression and psychosis both speculated
269. Jessica Alba    OCD and eating disorder
270. Shayne Corson    panic attacks
271. Nicole Kidman    panic attacks on the red carpet
272. Earl Campbell    panic disorder
273. Kim Basinger    panic disorder
274. Donald Trump    possible OCD
275. Gail Porter    post natal depression
276. Katie Price/Jordan    post natal depression
277. Julie Krone    post-traumatic stress disorder; clinical depression
278. Brooke Shields    postpartum depression
279. Charles “Buddy” Bolden    schizophrenia
280. Charles Faust    schizophrenia
281. John Nash    schizophrenia
282. Peter Greene    schizophrenia
283. Syd Barrett    schizophrenia
284. Vaslav Nijinsky    schizophrenia
285. John Forbes Nash    schizophrenia (paranoid-type)
286. Lionel Aldridge    schizophrenia (paranoid-type)
287. Veronica Lake    schizophrenia; alcoholism
288. Abraham Lincoln    severe clinical depression
289. Charles Darwin    severe panic disorder
290. Barbra Streisand    social phobia
291. Carly Simon    social phobia
292. Ricky Williams    social phobia
293. Steve Blass    social phobia
294. Steve Sax    social phobia
295. John Madden    specific phobia (flying)
296. Elton John     substance abuse and bulimia
297. Halle Berry    suicide attempt
298. Tulisa’s mum    Tulisa’s mum had scizoaffective disorder
299. Emily Carr    various speculations, neurasthenia; hypochondriasis; clinical depression; conversion disorder; schizophrenia: