'Queen of Mean' Ellen DeGeneres Admits She's Endured 'Excruciating Pain' From Litany of Health Woes: OCD, ADHD, Brittle Bones, Arthritis and 'Disintegration'
Ellen DeGeneres has opened up about her health woes in her new Netflix special.
Sept. 26 2024, Published 10:30 a.m. ET
Former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is using her new comedy special to get real with fans about her recent health struggles.
RadarOnline.com can reveal she has opened up about being diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), along with other not-so-funny health conditions.
In her new Netflix special For Your Approval, DeGeneres admitted to seeking mental health help following allegations she fostered a toxic work environment on The Ellen Degeneres Show.
DeGeneres has revealed she suffers from OCD, ADHD, arthritis and osteoporosis.
DeGeneres explained she did not know OCD was even a thing – especially because her ADHD kept her "well adjusted".
She said: "I may have OCD because a therapist said so and I said, 'Yes I am very organized', because I thought that was the O.
"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. 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.
"They say it could be hereditary."
DeGeneres' wife Portia de Rossi agreed with the OCD diagnosis.
DeGeneres, 66, even asked her wife of 15 years Portia de Rossi, 51, if she too thought she could have OCD – to which de Rossi said yes.
She continued: "It's funny, I never thought of myself as obsessive. I think of myself as careful and everyone else careless and out of control."
The Mayo Clinic says OCD "features a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears known as obsessions.
"These obsessions lead you to do repetitive behaviors, also called compulsions. These obsessions and compulsions get in the way of daily activities and cause a lot of distress.
"Ultimately, you feel driven to do compulsive acts to ease your stress. Even if you try to ignore or get rid of bothersome thoughts or urges, they keep coming back.
"This leads you to act based on ritual. This is the vicious cycle of OCD."
DeGeneres' new Netflix special For Your Approval premiered on the streaming giant on September 24.
Next, DeGeneres turned her attention to her ADHD – a chronic disorder affecting a person's behavior with ongoing symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.
She said: "My ADD makes it really hard to sit down and focus on anything at all.
"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."
DeGeneres added: "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.
"So, it takes me all the way around to being well-adjusted, I think."
Watch the trailer for DeGeneres' latest special above.
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Elsewhere in the Netflix special, DeGeneres reveals she also suffers from "full-on" osteoporosis – a bone disease causing bones to become brittle and break easily.
She joked her bones were like sand, saying: "'I don't even know how I'm standing up right now. I'm like a human sandcastle. I could disintegrate in the shower."
The former talk show host revealed she has also been diagnosed with arthritis.
DeGeneres said: "It's hard to be honest about aging and seem cool.
"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.'
"I said, 'How did I get that?' And he said, 'Oh it just happens at your age.'"
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