Faye Dunaway Found Telling All About Bipolar Disorder ‘Cathartic’ — After Decades Of Being Branded Actress From Hell
Faye Dunaway says revealing her bipolar disorder was a massive weight off her shoulders.
For decades, she was branded one of Hollywood’s most notorious “queen b------”.
Earlier this year, Faye Dunaway revealed the fact she is biopolar as the explanation for her “difficult” behavior – and RadarOnline.com can reveal she now feels announcing her diagnosis was a huge weight off her shoulders.
Faye Dunaway opened up about her mental health in a new tell-all documentary.
When asked if it felt “cathartic” to finally speak about her condition, the 83-year-old Bonnie and Clyde actress said: “Cathartic is a good word. It was. To look at it all and see what it added up to. It was difficult sometimes, because it is very private to me."
“I was a bit wary at seeing it all out there, but that’s the process – it’s the whole point of the film, the sharing of who I am. I dug deep!”
Dunaway spent decades being branded one of Hollywood’s most “difficult” stars.
But the Network star – who has battled alcoholism and had a string of doomed romances – also shared being bipolar helped her in front of the camera.
She added: “The mania we tap into, and the sadness, of course… I don’t know how all that works exactly but I understand that I need all of that to use in my craft. It has been a difficulty, of course, as a person sometimes. It’s something I’ve had to deal with and overcome and understand. It is something that is part of who I am, and that now I can understand and deal with much more.”
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HBO documentary Faye revealed the actress was on medication for her disorder.
Dunaway went public with her mental health struggles in new HBO documentary Faye and explained how she was put on medication after being probed by doctors.
She added in a chat with The Independent she is now speaking publicly about the condition as sharing has helped her “overcome” and “understand”.
Her fellow acting veteran Bette Davis, who died aged 81 in 1989, famously told chat show veteran Johnny Carson that Dunaway was “impossible” and “uncooperative” on set.
Speaking in her Faye film, the Oscar-winner said about her temperament: “I don’t mean to make an excuse about it, I am still responsible for my actions. But this is what I came to understand, was the reason for them. It’s something you need to be aware of, you need to try to do the right thing to take care of it."
Dunaway was infamously branded impossible to work with with fellow screen icon Bette Davis years before revealing her diagnosis.
“(My mental health is) a sensitivity and it’s something that is just a part of my make-up… thank God there is medication and there are studies, and there are doctors who deal with this and I’ve been able to benefit from that."
"Medication is crucial and without it, you fall back into what is there psychologically and biologically. I worked with a group of doctors who analyzed my behavior, who gave me prescriptions for pills they thought would be good for me. And that helped. So I am quieter. But throughout my career, people know there were tough times.”
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